Manhattan is a borough of shared buildings. From the towers of Midtown and the Upper East Side to the walk-ups of the Lower East Side, Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood, most people live above, below and beside their neighbors. That shapes everything about a fire: how to get out, where the smoke goes, whose water comes through whose ceiling, and who arranges the cleanup. This page covers fire restoration in Manhattan with those buildings in mind.
NYC Fire Damage Restoration is an independent referral service, not a restoration company. When you send the form, your details go to an independent local restoration provider serving New York City, who can contact you, inspect and quote any work directly. You decide whether to hire them.
Fire, smoke or water damage in a Manhattan building? Send the request, and an independent local provider can contact you.
Fireproof or not: it changes what you do
NYC Emergency Management gives two different instructions depending on the building. In a high-rise, if the fire is not in your apartment, stay in your apartment rather than going into smoke-filled hallways. In a building that is not fireproof, which generally means six stories or fewer, get everyone out and close the doors behind you. Many Manhattan residents live in one kind of building and work in another, so it is worth knowing which is which. If you are unsure whether your building is fireproof, the Department of Buildings can tell you.
After a fire in a Manhattan building
The City Council’s Residential Fire Emergency Response Guide describes the sequence. The fire department declares the building safe for city agencies to enter. Fire Marshals inspect to determine the cause. DOB assesses the structure and may issue a vacate order, and HPD inspects units for habitability and may issue one too. A vacate order means a unit is not safe to live in; it is not an eviction order. DOB says no one can enter a building with a vacate order in effect, and orders can cover some units or the whole building.
In a tall building, the damage often reaches beyond one apartment. Smoke and heat rise, as NYC Emergency Management notes, and smoke can travel up stairwells and shafts to floors above. Water from firefighting and sprinklers runs down into the units below. So a single fire can mean several households dealing with different damage at once. The page on smoke damage restoration NYC explains how smoke travels, and the fire and water damage guide covers the units below.
Co-ops, condos and managing agents
In co-op and condo buildings, common across Manhattan, the building and the owner each have a part of the responsibility. The line between them is set by the building’s own documents and by each owner’s policy, so before anyone works inside your unit, ask the managing agent what the building is handling and check your own policy or agent. NYC Emergency Management advises that if you are insured, you contact the insurer for instructions on protecting the property, conducting the inventory and contacting fire damage restoration companies.
- Tell the managing agent in writing what damage you see in your unit, with photos.
- Ask which parts of the work the building is arranging: common areas, the facade, structure, shared systems.
- Ask what the building’s rules are for contractors: insurance certificates, elevator bookings, working hours.
- Do not throw anything away until an inventory is made, as NYC Emergency Management advises.
Rentals and walk-ups
In a rental building, the City Council’s guide says building management hires the vendors for clean-up, remediation and rebuilding, should send workers to board up broken windows and other openings on the day of the fire, and should have its clean-up company test for asbestos. A tenant can call 311 to request a DEP inspector to take samples, which pauses clean-up. Tenants should photograph everything and, if they have renters insurance, file a claim and confirm any written notice requirement. Rent stabilized and rent controlled tenants who cannot live in their apartment can file with DHCR to reduce the rent to $1 a month, according to DOB.
Mold after firefighting water
Larger Manhattan buildings fall under the city’s mold rules for bigger buildings. The Health Department says that if the area of mold is more than 10 square feet in a building with 10 or more apartments, or with 25,000 or more square feet of non-residential floor area, owners must use New York State Department of Labor licensed mold assessment and remediation workers. Drying firefighting water early, within the 24 to 48 hours the EPA advises, helps keep a fire from becoming a mold job too.
Neighborhoods across Manhattan
The request form covers every part of the borough: Inwood and Washington Heights, Harlem and East Harlem, the Upper West Side and Upper East Side, Midtown, Chelsea and the Flatiron District, Greenwich Village, the East Village, the Lower East Side, Tribeca and the Financial District. Whatever the neighborhood, say the building type when you send the request: a high-rise co-op, a walk-up rental and a storefront each start differently.
An independent local restoration provider can contact you, inspect and quote directly. Sending the form is free and you never have to hire anyone. For the steps in order, read fire damage cleanup NYC.
Questions people ask
Should I leave my Manhattan apartment during a fire in the building?
NYC Emergency Management says that in a high-rise, if the fire is not in your apartment, stay in it rather than going into smoke-filled hallways. In a non-fireproof building, generally six stories or fewer, get everyone out and close the doors.
Who handles fire damage in a Manhattan co-op?
The building and the owner each handle part, as the building’s documents set out. Ask the managing agent and check your own policy or agent before work starts in your unit.
Is there a Manhattan office for DOB vacate orders?
DOB lists a Construction Enforcement Unit for each borough, Manhattan included, on its Vacates Order page.
Fire damage helpFive boroughs