Reports: Trump Lobbied Against Sprinklers In Trump Tower

The resident who died in Saturday’s Trump Tower fire was 67-year-old Todd Brasner. The New York art dealer was pulled unconscious from his 50th-floor apartment and died later in a local hospital.  The building’s residential floors don’t have sprinklers.  Donald Trump himself reportedly fought against installing them.

CBS News reports:

“President Trump’s centerpiece Manhattan skyscraper opened in 1984, but does not have sprinklers on its residential floors, a measure required in new buildings since 1999. President Trump, then a private citizen and property developer, lobbied to try and prevent the mandate at the time.”

The sprinklers aren’t the only red flag today. Many residents are questioning how building management handled the emergency.

The New York Times reports:

Lalitha Masson, a 76-year-old resident, called it “a very, very terrifying experience.

“’When I saw the television, I thought we were finished,’ said Ms. Masson, who lives on the 36th floor with her husband, Narinder, who is 79 and has Parkinson’s disease. “I started praying that this was our end. I called my oldest son and said goodbye to him because the way it looked everything was falling out of the window, and it reminded me of 9/11.”

She said that she did not get any announcement about leaving, and that when she called the front desk no one answered.”

As for any statement from Trump himself. He tweeted about the fire but has not mentioned the man who lost his life.