The apartment in New York's Trump Tower that was destroyed in a raging fire that killed a resident and injured six firefighters had no sprinkler system, authorities said.
Firefighters remained at the scene Sunday, cleaning up after the blaze and trying to determine its cause. The fire broke out shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday in the 58-story building.
President Trump keeps a sprawling, penthouse residence in the building, and his business has offices there. Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said Secret Service agents accompanied firefighters to check on the Trump residence. Nigro said no Trump family members were inside at the time.
Trump, in a tweet, thanked firefighters and said the blaze was "very confined" citing a "well built building."
"It's a well-built building," Nigro said, adding "The upper floors, the resident floors, are not sprinklered."
The building was completed in 1983, several years before sprinkler systems were mandated. Owners of older, residential high-rises are required to add the systems only when major renovations take place.
Some fire-safety advocates wanted older apartment buildings to be retrofitted with sprinklers when the city began requiring them in new residential high-rises almost 20 years ago. Some developers argued that the vast majority of fatal fires rage in smaller multi-family homes, not high-rises.
Then-mayor Rudy Giuliani supported the developers, citing cost concerns.
Nigro said more than 200 firefighters rushed to the scene. They found the apartment "completely on fire (but) members pushed on heroically." The victim, Todd Brassner, 67, was rushed to a hospital and died a short time later, authorities said.
"This was a very difficult fire," Nigro said. "As you can imagine, the apartment is quite large. We are 50 stories up. The rest of the building had a considerable amount of smoke."
Eric Trump, one of the president's sons who also helps head The Trump Organization with headquarters in the tower, tweeted his praise to firefighters.
"Thank you to the amazing men and women of the NYFD who extinguished a fire in a residential apartment at @TrumpTower," he tweeted. "The @FDNY and @NYPD are truly some of the most incredible people anywhere!"
A fire in the tower's heating systems in January sent smoke billowing from the roof and injured three people, none seriously.
