Officials say fire safety at Super 8 will be addressed

ROTTERDAM, N.Y. (NEWS10) –  Volunteer firefighters raised concerns around fire safety at the Rotterdam Super 8, where DocGo has a contract to house asylum seekers from New York City. Town officials said DocGo promised to consistently provide an accurate headcount and would start running fire drills.

The Carman Fire Department rang the alarm at a town board meeting on March 27. After Chief John Nuzback raised concerns, he was able to meet with Rotterdam Town Supervisor Mollie Collins. He pushed for an accurate tally of how many people are staying at that Super 8.

“We had an old headcount but we know that people, the asylum seekers, sometimes are moved. Sometimes they want to go back to New York City and it’s my understanding that sometimes they have family in the area that they might move in with. So we need an up-to-date headcount,” said Collins.

She said DocGo will provide those updated numbers biweekly. Nuzback tells me he’s extremely grateful Collins is pushing these issues. 

“Our code enforcement was down there today. They’ve already removed some of the trash from behind the building. An unregistered car will be removed today or tomorrow. And a couple of the rooms they were concerned about, code enforcement went in and took pictures because they are uninhabited and they’ve been cleaned,” said Collins.

One of Nuzback’s complaints was related to the storage of E-bikes with lithium batteries.

In a statement DocGo said it would crack down on storage issues and cooking in the rooms. It read in part: “...we have communicated these guidelines to guests in all languages spoken.” DocGo said any violations will result in equipment being confiscated.

One asylum seeker NEWS10 spoke with Tuesday, who did not want to go on camera, said he’s been staying at the Super 8 for a month and they’ve been told not to cook in their rooms and have been utilizing the grills outside. He does not have any safety concerns. 

Collins said they have issued violations in the past and some of those have been resolved. She’s confident all citations will be resolved and lines of communication will remain open.

“Some things can be done in the short term, others are going to take longer, and our code enforcement is on top of that, making sure that things are done correctly,” said Collins.

Nuzback and other volunteer firefighters plan to attend the town board meeting Wednesday night.