About 500 people in 240 units lost their homes in the Jan. 21, 2015 fire, which started when maintenance workers accidentally sparked it while using a blowtorch.
EDGEWATER -- AvalonBay presented plans Wednesday to rebuild an apartment building destroyed in a massive blaze, this time with beefed up fire safety features.
About 500 people in 240 units lost their homes in the Jan. 21, 2015 fire, which started when maintenance workers accidentally sparked it while using a blowtorch.
AvalonBay plans to use the same lightweight wood-frame construction, with the same number of units on the same footprint as the building that burned down, said Robert Kasuba, an attorney representing the company in its zoning board application.
And while state legislators have not toughened fire safety regulations since the fire, AvalonBay plans to go "above and beyond" existing code to protect the building from future blazes, he said.
Stuart Lachs, the architect for AvalonBay, said the new building would use a more comprehensive sprinkler system than the original. The new system includes sprinklers in concealed spaces, covers a larger area and discharges water faster.
AvalonBay also proposes to add concrete masonry firewalls to the building, running up to 30 inches over the roof. Lachs said the building would add more fire department connections in addition to the six hydrants on the streets.
Edgewater fire: One year later
Members of the board and public questioned way AvalonBay proposed hollow masonry firewalls rather than filling them, which might slow down a fire even further.
"We have selected what we believe are appropriate measures," Lachs said, adding that AvalonBay consulted with Edgewater fire officials.
Kasuba said the new building would mostly conform to the original site plan, first approved in 1998. That building burned down in 2000, just as construction was about to finish.
Fire officials blamed the lightweight wood-frame construction of the building for allowing the 2015 blaze to spread so quickly. In the wake of the fire, lawmakers called for changes to state construction codes to either ban or better protect such structures, but those measures have thus far gone nowhere.
Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), chair of the state assembly's fire safety commission, has proposed legislation to require more widespread sprinklers and masonry firewalls in multifamily buildings constructed with lightweight materials. Wisniewski said he hopes to see the bill progress this fall.
Build With Strength, a coalition backed by the concrete industry, released a poll Wednesday showing that the vast majority of voters want limits to wood-frame construction. The poll, conducted by Axis Research, of Virginia, surveyed 400 registered voters in New Jersey.
Mayor Michael McPartland, who had spent only a few days in office when the fire broke out, said more sprinklers would have made a difference.
"It's something that would have stopped the fire in its tracks and I'm looking forward to legislation," he said.
Jack Murphy, a deputy fire coordinator for Bergen County and former Leonia fire chief, said firefighters had called on builders and public officials to examine lightweight construction since the 1980s.
"The industry has to say, 'We saw what happened here. We've got to step forward,'" Murphy said.
The zoning board meeting Wednesday stretched until past 10 p.m. AvalonBay's hearing is scheduled to continue Oct. 5.
Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.