Three people are dead after a fire tore through a six-floor apartment building at 207 and 209 Dyckman Street in Inwood, New York, in the early hours of Monday morning. Among them, it is believed, are Yolaine Diaz and her mother.

Yolaine came to New York from the Dominican Republic as a teenager with a dream. She became a journalist for People en Español. Friends remembered her as the life of every room she walked into — someone who loved beauty, fashion, and travel, and who proved, as one friend put it, "that everybody is capable of achieving what they want."

She should not have died this way.

Residents say they had been worried about their building for years. Court documents show that New York City's Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) had already filed a lawsuit just days before the fire against JanJan Realty Corp. and its president, Jack Bick, over alleged "unsafe conditions" — including fire hazards, obstructed emergency exits, and collapsing ceilings. The lawsuit accuses the owner of deliberately allowing these conditions as part of a campaign to push out rent-stabilized tenants.

The building at 207 Dyckman was also enrolled in HPD's Alternative Enforcement Program, which flags buildings with repeated housing code violations. The warnings were there. The legal action was underway. Three people still lost their lives.

Sign this petition to demand that New York City and state prosecutors pursue full accountability for the owner of this building — and that displaced tenants receive immediate, lasting support while they are left with nowhere to go.

Photo: Cristóbal Vivar