Local officials join U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer at the site of the former Crawford Furniture Factory that was destroyed in a fire on November 16, 2022. (January 11, 2023)

U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer visited Jamestown Wednesday to announce a plan to help clean up the former Crawford Furniture Factory site following a devastating fire this past November.

Schumer, standing with officials in front of the former factory at 1061 Allen Street, said he is calling on the Federal Environmental Protection Agency to launch a full investigation, “But we now need them to quickly assess the public health risk and determine how bad the pollution is here and exactly what kind of clean-up efforts we’re going to need, especially after the fire. I’m asking them to complete this ASAP. Once they determine it’s a health risk, that frees the Federal dollars. And as I’ve said, I’ve got billions of dollars in the Infrastructure bill for projects just like this.”

Schumer said the EPA has already assisted the city by installing a fence to secure the property after the fire and had been working prior to the fire to remove several barrels of hazardous materials from the site.
He said city taxpayers should not have to bear the burden of the estimated clean-up costs for the site which are in excess of $1 million.

Schumer said the Superfund tax has been reinstated which will help the EPA, “So once the EPA pays for it, they can go after the people who own the property, the people who were negligent and let the fire occur, and recoup the money. And they can sue them. That law had expired and we got it back in place, so even the Federal taxpayers ultimately wouldn’t have to pay for this.”

Schumer said once the clean up is completed, the EPA’s Brownfields program can come in to help restore the site for future use.

Director of Development Crystal Surdyk said that Allen Street Development LLC, whose principal owners are Richard and Patricia Rusiniak of Cheektowaga, did not have insurance on the building.

She said the City will also be continuing their cases against the Rusiniaks, in an attempt to recoup the cost of the emergency demolition. They also are leveling charges of contempt against Mr. Rusiniak for providing false statements in court. These cases are expected to be heard in Housing and/or City Court later this month.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

City Council Housing Committee (December 5, 2022)

The clean-up cost following the fire at the former Crawford Furniture building on Allen Street could cost over $1 million.

Director of Development Crystal Surdyk informed the City Council Housing Committee that Allen Street Development LLC, whose principal owners are Richard and Patricia Rusiniak of Cheektowaga, did not have insurance on the building. She said the city’s goal is to work to make sure taxpayers do not foot the clean-up bill and are pursuing accountability of the owners.

Surdyk said the city is continuing to coordinate with the Federal Environmental Protection Agency and the State Department of Environmental Conservation. She said the city has requested the EPA consider the site for their “removable” program, “They’ve been involved, they’ve been engaged the last year and a half. There were several barrels of hazardous materials that were removed from the property over the course of the last year and a half. It could have been a much more disastrous event than it was.”

Surdyk said the EPA has also assisted already by installing a fence to secure the property. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Fire at 1061 Allen Street on November 16, 2022 (Photo by Jamestown Professional Firefighters Local 137)

The cause of last week’s fire at 1061 Allen Street remains under investigation.

The Jamestown Fire Department declared the fire out on Friday, November 18, two days after the massive blaze resulted in response by 13 local fire companies. Officials say there were no injuries in the fire.

The property is owned by Allen Street Development LLC whose principal owners are Richard and Patricia Rusiniak of Cheektowaga. The building used to be part of the former Crawford Furniture’s complex.

Jamestown Department of Development Director Crystal Surdyk put out a release stating that various city departments, along with investigators from both the Environmental Protection Agency and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation had inspected the property the week before the fire to assess the condition of the main building of the massive complex and to inventory and test hazardous materials that have been found on site. She said the property was condemned due to imminent structural collapse caused by long deteriorating conditions as a direct result of property owner neglect.

Surdyk added the City has long standing citations for code violations against the owners of the property, which they had not complied with despite six court appearance summons over the last two years. The owner’s son appeared twice on behalf of Allen Street Development LLC and his parents, despite having no legal accountability for the property.

Surdyk said those “two appearances seemed to appease the court, as Richard G. Rusiniak assured the court that he would relay the judge’s orders to show substantial improvement in the cleaning up of the property to his parents. Unfortunately these assurances have not resulted in any corrective action.”

The Department of Development and the City’s Legal team are exploring all legal options available to hold Allen Street Development, LLC and Patricia and Richard J. Rusiniak, accountable for their “intentional and malicious neglect.”