The Deadly 2022 Bronx Fire Was A Capitalist Disaster

A ladder leads up to a window after a fatal fire at an apartment building in the Bronx on Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022, in New York. The majority of victims were suffering from severe smoke inhalation, FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. Yuki Iwamura| AP

People’s World

By: Jacob Buckner

BRONX, N.Y. – On Sunday, Jan. 9 at 11:00 a.m. a vicious fire tore through the Twin Parks, NorthWest building, located at 333 E.181st street, in the Bronx. The fire started in unit 3M after a heater was allegedly left on for three days. After the smoke filled the apartment and the fire department was notified, 17 individuals were left dead, including eight children.

The history of the housing development, from the long list of complaints from tenants to the oppressive economic conditions in the Bronx overall, reveals that this disaster was not an individual mistake from a tenant, but an unfortunate and eventual result of capitalist greed.

Twin Parks is made up of four developments, Twin Parks Northwest, Northeast, Southwest, and Southeast. Originally built in the early 1970s, these Public housing units were designed as mixed income housing. The original plan consisted of developing Twin Parks with the collaboration of the Twin Parks Association, a group of religious community organizations that wanted to assist in finding low, moderate, and middle-income apartments. However, the head of the Twin Parks Association was unable to secure funding, resulting in relinquishing community control and changing ownership of the property into private hands starting in 1973.