The garden center that was operating out of a city-owned lot where a fire started underneath the Metro-North tracks in East Harlem Tuesday night has been slapped with a number of summonses for violating storage regulations.
The FDNY issued four summonses Friday to the owner of Urban Garden Center for illegally storing and handling gasoline and portable gas-powered equipment. On Thursday, the mayor's office said that the business wasn't permitted to store large quantities of flammable materials.
The propane, firewood, plywood and other flammable materials at the site fueled a massive blaze sparked by an accidental fuel spill that grew to an inferno Tuesday night, damaging a steel column on the Park Avenue viaduct and crippling service for days.
"Had the business followed the law, FDNY would have assessed the site and determined this storage of flammable materials should not be allowed," the mayor's office said in the statement Thursday.
The FDNY says a permit is required for a business to store anything more than 2.5 gallons of gasoline and 43 pounds of propane.
Spokeswoman Natalie Grybauskas added Friday, "Safety remains our number one priority. For the most part, spaces under train tracks and viaducts are unoccupied by businesses or structures. NYCEDC, DOB, DOT, and FDNY are reviewing these areas citywide and working together to ensure the safety of these spaces."
Fire safety expert Glenn Corbett told the I-Team that he was stunned that neither the city or Metro-North picked up on the materials sitting under the tracks sooner, especially since the stretch of track was impacted by the deadly gas explosion in East Harlem in 2014.
"It should have raised red flags a long time ago," Corbett said over the phone.
One of the owners of The Urban Garden Center declined to comment to NBC 4 New York on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Metro-North service returned to its regular weekday schedule in time for the morning commute Friday after completing work to temporarily brace a column damaged on the elevated tracks.
Crews worked around the clock to install six temporary steel columns, and Metro-North said all four tracks were ready for service but warned that temporary speed restrictions of 30 mph could cause some minor delays.
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The temporary columns could be in place for months, and there's no timetable yet on building a new permanent column, the railroad said.
Metro-North will continue to work at the site to make other structure repairs to the viaduct, including reinforcing the horizontal steel girders that run underneath it.
