The families of five firefighters who died or suffered catastrophic injuries when they were forced to jump from a burning Bronx apartment building in 2005 settled their suits against the city Monday, months after a jury awarded them one of the largest verdicts in city history.
The settlement, for $29.5 million, brings the total the families will receive in damages from the “Black Sunday” disaster to about $80 million, including a separate agreement reached with the E. 178th St. tenement’s owner right before a Bronx jury gave its whopping $183 million verdict in February.
The suit had centered on the Fire Department’s failure to issue firefighters personal safety ropes that would have let the men escape from the burning building. The FDNY had taken away the ropes in 2000, but has since returned to equipping smoke-eaters with ropes, a hook and a sliding device.