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 The floor of a 99-cent store in the Bronx collapsed in August 2006, killing two firefighters. A report blamed rotting columns.

 Lt. Howard J. Carpluk Jr., left, and Firefighter Michael C. Reilly were killed in an August 2006 blaze.

2006 Fatal Fire Cause Focuses on 82 Year Old Engineer & Perjury Claim 

The Bronx district attorney’s office has decided to pursue criminal charges against an engineer whose failure to fully inspect a Bronx construction job was cited in a Fire Department report on the deaths of two firefighters, according to a person who has been briefed on the investigation.

Firefighter Michael C. Reilly and his boss, Lt. Howard J. Carpluk Jr., were fighting a fire in a Walton Avenue discount store in August 2006 when rotting support columns gave way, the floor collapsed and they were trapped, a Fire Department report concluded.

The engineer’s lawyer said on Sunday that the Fire Department’s conclusions about the construction were wrong, and that there was no connection between the plans approved by his client, Jose D. Vargas, and the fatal collapse. The lawyer, Armando Montano, also said that in bringing criminal charges alleging that his client lied to investigators, prosecutors were taking advantage of the lapsed memory of an 82-year-old man.

The charges represent the most significant law enforcement action taken against a professional involved in a program that gives engineers and architects the authority to approve construction projects without city oversight.

The program is essentially an honor system in which the city has transferred many of its inspection responsibilities to architects and engineers and relies on their integrity to ensure building safety. But the city has found widespread abuses in recent years and is working to increase oversight and penalties.

“We are focused on infusing integrity back into the professional certification program,” said Robert LiMandri, New York’s deputy building commissioner.

The engineer, Mr. Vargas, is scheduled to be arraigned in State Supreme Court in the Bronx as early as Monday on perjury charges stemming from allegations that he lied to investigators studying the fatal fire, the person briefed on the case said. Mr. Montano confirmed that his client had been indicted on a perjury charge.

Several months ago, the Fire and Building Departments concluded in investigative reports that Mr. Vargas had approved plans to renovate the building without conducting a final inspection of the work, as required.

In fact, the reports said, the building had rotten support columns, shoddy repair work and alterations far more extensive than listed in the plans that Mr. Vargas approved in 2001. The Fire Department also criticized Mr. Vargas for what it said was a failure to inspect the building carefully.

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Bronx home where fire killed 10 is visible from PS 73, where teacher Craig Monteverde (below) remembers kids.

Gone But Not Forgotten: The Magassa Family Tragedy Remembered 

The desk in Room 512 of Public School 73 in the Bronx was kept vacant for a long time, a tribute to a boy who died with eight other kids and a woman in the city’s worst house fire in four decades.

But Bandiougou Magassa’s smudged beige desk is occupied now, and the classroom is no longer filled with tears as this year’s fifth-graders happily scramble to finish essays.

From the room’s window, you can see the rear of the still-damaged house where members of two West African families perished: five Magassa children and the wife and four kids of Mamadou Soumare.

In the year since the blaze that tore at hearts across the city, the Magassa family has begun recovering, but Soumare remains bereft.

The school that lost three students and felt a grief second only to that of the families has moved forward and will honor the dead with lasting monuments.

A true symbol of hope from the ashes is first-grader Hatouma Magassa, who was rushed to the hospital that night, her lungs filled with the same smoke that killed her siblings.

In a bright yellow shirt and blue jeans, she walked past the classroom where her brother Bandiougou once studied, smiled and embraced his teacher.

“The Magassa kids love to hug,” teacher Craig Monteverde beamed.

Late on the night of March 7, a space heater’s overheated electrical cord ignited the bedding and a pile of clothes in the ground-level apartment of a four-story brick house at 1022 Woodycrest Ave. in Highbridge.

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 Police released this picture of a man they say has robbed a series of livery cabs.

Bronx Livery Robbery Suspect Photo Released

Police have released a photo of a man they say has been robbing livery cab drivers at knifepoint in the Bronx. He has struck at least five times in a six-day stretch beginning December 19, police said.

In each robbery, the man hailed a cab, pulled out a knife during the ride and made off with the driver’s cash and car. No one was hurt in any of the incidents, police said.

The suspect appears to be Hispanic, in his 40s, about 5-foot-8, and between 165 to 185 pounds, authorities said. The photo was taken from a security camera mounted in one of the cabs.

This is the blotter of robberies:

1. Wednesday 12/19/07 1830. The suspect was picked up at Morris Ave. and 149 St. and the robbery took place at 153 St. and Walton Ave.

2. Thursday 12/20/07 1810. The suspect was picked up at 149 St. and Morris Ave. and the robbery took place in front of 675 Walton Ave.

3. Friday 12/21/07 1755. The suspect was picked up at 143 St. and Morris Ave. and the robbery took place at McClellan St. and Walton Ave.

4. Saturday 12/22/07 1300. The suspect was picked up at 149 St. and Courtlandt Ave. and the robbery took place at 159 St. and Grand Concourse.

5. Monday 12/24/07 1340. The suspect was picked up at 149 St. and Morris Ave. and the robbery took place in front of 711 Walton Ave.

Police request that anyone with information call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-577-TIPS

SOURCE: MyFoxNY.com

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The Bronx Museum of the Arts, completed in 2006 by Miami architects Arquitectonica, gives new life to the Grand Concourse.

Over budget and delayed, the new Bronx courthouse.

Prewar buildings along Walton Ave.

South Bronx: A historic section of the borough blossoms once again

Having more to do with housing prices than hip hop, the “Boogie Down Bronx” around the Grand Concourse continues to be a red-hot real estate market. Standing on the steps of the hulking gray Bronx courthouse, looking at the prewar buildings lining Walton Ave. and the cranes constructing the new Yankee Stadium, it’s clear why.

“There hasn’t been this much building in the Bronx since the 1920s,” says Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión. “At my inauguration, I said, ‘The Bronx is open for business.’ People are working here, they’re building here and, best of all, people are moving here.”

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