CBS2 Exclusive: 140 Families In Bronx Housing Project Without Heat Given Hot Plates To Cook On

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Hundreds of families fear for their safety.

They live in public housing and have been without gas for more than two months. They say the city's temporary solution to the problem puts them at risk, CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported exclusively on Friday.

Kramer witnessed how Barbara Sanders, a resident of a New York City housing project, cooks her dinner on a barely working hot plate on top of a stove. She has to leave the pot on for hours, sometimes half a day, which could be dangerous.

"No gas. They gave us a hot plate," Sanders said.

Sanders is among 140 families -- hundreds of people -- living in a 14-story building in the Bronx River Houses who have been without gas for over two months. Instead, the city -- the New York City Housing Authority -- gave the residents hot plates to cook on.

The residents say the hot plates smoke, spark, and are accidents waiting to happen. One man said his nephew went to the hospital because he got electric shocks from a hot plate.

"This shocked my nephew. It gave him chest pains being as he was cooking in here," Jeffrey Santiago said.

"There's a lot of fear of the hot plate tipping over. It's not stable," Linda Borero added.

Fear of using the hot plates has multiplied since a recent incident in which a malfunctioning hot plate sparked a fire that destroyed a Midwood, Brooklyn home and killed seven children.

"This is what happened in Brooklyn. Seven children died. I'm not trying to kill myself," Sanders said.

"It's very scary because we have senior citizens and so, me, handicapped people living here," Jeffrey Graham added.

Kramer tried to get answers, first from the building superintendent, saying "Excuse me, sir. I wonder if I could talk to you. I want to talk to you about the fact that you gave people in the building, 140 families, hot plates that don't work, that are dangerous. Sir, come talk to me."

Kramer asked Mayor Bill de Blasio.

"We will certainly get on this today, but I can't speak to it until I get the facts," de Blasio said.

Kramer asked FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro.

"I would prefer my family to eat cold food than to leave a hot plate on all day," Nigro said.

After Kramer spoke to city officials the FDNY sent trucks to investigate the situation, and Kramer was told other experts were on the way.

A spokeswoman for the New York City Housing Authority claims broken hot plates are replaced with new ones. But that's not what the residents told Kramer. They said broken ones are usually replaced with others that are also broken.