Fire consumed part of the 50th floor of Trump Tower late Saturday, claiming the life of a 67-year old man who lived there. Donald Trump used the tragedy to boast about the fine construction of his flagship Manhattan skyscraper.
“Fire at Trump Tower is out. Very confined (well built building). Firemen (and women) did a great job. THANK YOU!” the president tweeted.
ABC News reported that the victim, Todd Brassner, was pulled unconscious from his apartment at the luxury Fifth Avenue sky scraper and died later at the hospital. Six firefighters were also injured in the fire, ABC reported. The cause of the blaze was not immediately reported.
Saturday evening, flames and smoke billowed from the building during the four-alarm fire, raining debris on the Mahattan streets below.
#FDNY members remain on scene of a 4-alarm fire, 721 5th Ave in Manhattan. There is currently one serious injury to a civilian, and 3 non-life-threatening injuries to Firefighters, reported pic.twitter.com/c7qeOlDVcf
— FDNY (@FDNY) April 7, 2018
The president who famously owns the glitzy Fifth Avenue residential-and-retail skyscraper that bears his name, tweeted his thanks to New York’s firefighters.
Fire at Trump Tower is out. Very confined (well built building). Firemen (and women) did a great job. THANK YOU!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 7, 2018
ABC reported that it was the second fire this year at Trump tower. A roof top fire affecting a heating and cooling unit in broke out at the building in January.
CNN reported that the upper residential floors of Trump Tower — including the 50th floor destroyed by fire — are not equipped with sprinklers.
On Sunday, The New York Daily News pointed out that Trump led the charge against a bid by city officials to consider installing sprinklers in all residential buildings, following after fatal fires in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
The Twittersphere wasted no time in pointing out the irony.
imagine if Hillary owned a gaudy tower in NYC and never installed sprinklers and there was a fire and someone died. Fox News would be losing its mind. Hannity would be shitting roofing nails. Congressmen would be falling all over each other in a mad dash to hold hearings
— Jeff Tiedrich (@jefftiedrich) April 8, 2018
Others on Twitter, meanwhile, pointed out the crassness of not even mentioning that a life was lost.
Not a word of condolence for the life lost in his own tower, a life that might have been saved had Trump made the decision to retrofit with sprinklers https://t.co/ScOuEAbp3Y
— David Frum (@davidfrum) April 8, 2018