Motherless Brooklyn, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Edward Norton (who also directs and is credited with writing the adapted screenplay from Jonathan Lethem’s novel), has already received bad press surrounding its filming process. Now, according to Spectrum News NY 1, the Harlem fire on set that killed 37-year-old FDNY Lieutenant Michael Davidson has also made area residents homeless.

The news outlet spoke to Doris Adams, one of the people affected by the fire. Adams, 85, and her husband, 94, moved in with their daughter in the Bronx after spending a week in the hospital due to a fire that erupted in the building next door. Originally, Adams said she “didn’t think it was a fire,” just “something going on with the movie.” Upon being told about the fire from a neighbor and attempting to evacuate, she fell on the steps and had to be rescued by a neighbor and first responders.

The fire’s cause is reported as being “heat from a boiler ventilation flue pipe” that “ignited nearby combustible materials.” According to the outlet, the building had not had an annual boiler inspection report for several years and, as the FDNY’s report disclosed, the film’s production “placed highly combustible materials on the walls throughout the first floor,” creating “voids which initially concealed fire.”

Even now, according to the President of The Uniformed Firefighter Association of Greater New York, Gerard Fitzgerald, the de Blasio administration still hasn’t done anything to address the availability of filming permits for other buildings that might not be up to code.

“For $300 you can get a permit to do whatever you want. Those violations should at least be addressed before they allow people to go in there and make a more unsafe environment by bringing in those combustible materials or changing the outline of the apartment,” he said.

The de Blasio administration issued a statement, saying, “The FDNY and MOME [Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment] are continuing to work together to protect the safety of the public on film shoots; that work includes reviewing our current practices.” A spokesperson for the film also said that Class 5 Productions is not responsible for the fire or Davidson’s death, claiming that “production took a number of steps prior to filming to ensure that the set met and complied with all relevant rules and regulations.” The spokesperson said that steps taken included “visits from various officials, including the FDNY on numerous occasions, who inspected the set to ensure compliance.” However, as the news outlet reports, almost half a dozen lawsuits have been filed against the city, the building’s landlord, and/or Norton’s production company, Class 5 Films, since the fire.

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Photo: Class 5 Films

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