The FDNY is expected to issue orders to vacate at more than half a dozen migrant centers across the Big Apple over increased fears the sites could become fiery death traps, The Post has learned.
Officials from both the Office of Emergency Management and FDNY believe the orders are necessary at a number of migrant shelters and respite centers where various fire and health hazards were discovered, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.
Fire officials will return to the locations starting Sunday to issue their final inspections, the sources said.
The controversial former Staten Island Catholic school, St. John’s Villa Academy, is first up on the fire department’s list, the sources said.
News of the expected order to vacate comes a week after The Post revealed that the FDNY had hired ex-cops and former firefighters to work as “fire wardens” as officials compiled a list of dangerous migrant sites.
After the former school in the Arrochar section of Staten Island is inspected, fire officials are slated to visit the Tompkinsville shelter at the former Richard H. Hungerford School on Monday.
Over the following days, according to sources, inspectors will then head to shelters or respite centers at:
It wasn’t immediately clear how many migrants would be affected by the impending orders or where the city plans to relocate them.
About 100 migrants had been moved into St. John Villa over recent weeks.
Requests for comment to City Hall and FDNY were not immediately returned.
The Richard H. Hungerford School was closed by the city on Thursday due to asbestos, according to Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella.
The anticipated orders to vacate come as record numbers of migrants arrive in the Big Apple and city officials scramble to find additional makeshift shelter sites for the asylum seekers.
More than 64,100 migrants are still in the city’s care after seeing nearly 130,000 come into the Big Apple shelter system since the start of the crisis in spring 2022.