The city Department of Investigation is probing whether the Housing Authority failed to unclog chronically problematic compactor chutes before two trash fires at a Bronx development — including one that killed a 6-year-old boy, we have learned.
Aiden Hayward died after a Nov. 5 fire that began in a trash chute in a Mitchel Houses building on E. 135th Street in Mott Haven burst onto the floor where he lived, trapping him in his family’s 19th floor apartment. His father, Trevor, was badly burned trying to rescue his son, and 10 other people, including two firefighters, were injured.
The fatal blaze erupted nearly nine months after a Feb. 8 fire at another Mitchel Houses building across the courtyard. That fire also started in a trash chute that had been clogged, we found. Four tenants and a firefighter suffered smoke inhalation.