Sunset Park Fire: Buildings Inspectors Tried Four Times to Get Into the House — and Could Not, Records Show
The investigation into the Sunset Park fire that killed six people turned Friday to the paper trail: Department of Buildings records show three complaints alleging illegal apartment conversions at the house, closed after inspectors could not gain access on four separate attempts between September 2025 and August 2026 — months before the fire.
The deadliest fire of the year in this city now has a paper trail in front of it. Department of Buildings records show three complaints alleging illegal construction at the two-story Sunset Park home where six people died early Thursday — claims that the basement had been converted into an apartment and that apartments on the first and second floors had been divided into additional units, WABC reported Friday. The complaints were closed after inspectors were unable to gain access to the building during four separate attempts between September 2025 and August 2026. The most recent complaint, filed in August, alleged the basement was being illegally converted into an apartment.
The base facts of the fire are the FDNY-confirmed ones this station has carried since Thursday: the blaze tore through the home on 58th Street shortly before 1:40 AM, killing six people and injuring nine others, including three firefighters and two police officers, with more than 200 first responders on the scene. Investigators have confirmed multiple people were living in the home — at least five people on the first floor and six on the second, according to the Friday reporting. No victim has been named by officials in the sources read this cycle, and this desk publishes no name until police or the medical examiner release one.
The cause remains, officially, unknown — and Friday's reporting kept it that way on both of the investigation's open questions. Officials said two lithium-ion batteries were found at the scene along with what appeared to be a charred e-bike, and authorities have not said whether the batteries or the e-bike were connected to the cause of the fire. The investigation is examining the cause, the emergency response, and now the building's complaint history; none of the three has produced an official finding yet.
The wider number is the one fire officials keep returning to. There have been 86 fire deaths in the city this year, nearly double the 44 at the same point last year, according to the figures carried in Friday's reporting. FDNY First Deputy Commissioner Daniel Flynn used the moment to press the simplest point: always have a plan for fire — what you will do, and how you will escape, worked out before it happens. This desk follows the fire marshals' determination and the Buildings Department's next steps, and files an update when officials confirm more.
