Angry residents of NY town want HBO to cough up money for fire on set of series staring Mark Ruffalo: ‘I lost everything'

New York Post

2 days ago

They're still hot under the collar.
Feelings in an upstate New York town are continuing to smolder after a massive, 2019 fire on the set of an HBO miniseries that starred Mark Ruffalo — which is still wreaking havoc on residents as the deep-pocketed network fails to make things right, according to a new report.
The explosive blaze at a car dealership that served a film location for 'I Know This Much Is True' destroyed a village landmark in Ellenville, caused an estimated $15 million in damage, and exposed locals to potentially toxic chemicals, according to the L.A. Times.
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'It comes down to this: If you hurt people, you take care of them,' said lawyer Wayne Lonstein, who has sued HBO on behalf of two neighboring families.
4 Actor Mark Ruffalo went on to win an Emmy for his role in the miniseries.
The devastating blaze put dozens of locals out of jobs and damaged the homes of two next-door neighbors with children, neither of whom had the means to move out, according to the report.
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'They came to do the movie and destroyed everything,' said Pablo Ferrada Arias, 46, whose mobile home was left warped and water-damaged from the fire and efforts to put it out.
'I lost too much here: I lost money, lost time with my daughter… I lost everything,' he said, adding his 7-year-old girl developed asthma and had to move out after the blaze.
4 The fire broke out at a car dealership on the set of the show in Ellenville.
But despite a fire investigation that found equipment used by HBO caused the electrical fire, HBO still hasn't compensated some victims who lost property, according to the report.
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In early 2019, HBO spiffed up the Midcentury Modern-style building that housed 613 Automotive Group to depict a 1990s-era car dealership with gleaming props, including Chevrolet Camaros and Corvettes, on loan from motorheads throughout the state.
Just before 1 a.m. on May 9, 2019, after a long day of filming, a small fire broke out inside the dealership after the last of HBO's crew had left for the night.
It quickly spread to a mechanics' shop in the back of the business, where 55-gallon drums of oil likely caused a giant explosion, officials said.
'Every window in the place just blew out. Then it became a hell show,' recalled George Budd, Ellenville's assistant fire chief, who was first on the scene.
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Although nobody was injured, the inferno ripped though the 12,000 -square-foot structure, burned for 12 hours and resulted in an estimated $15 million in property damage.
4 The fire broke out at 613 Automotive Group in Ellenville.
Ulster County fire investigators later wrote in a report that the electrical fire was ignited by HBO crew members' sound equipment batteries, which were left charging overnight in the dealership's showroom, according to the paper.
The blaze has since sparked finger-pointing, lawsuits and local rage directed largely at HBO, which received a $24 million state tax credit for the 90 million production, according to the report.
'The amount of money made off this film compared to the relative cost of doing the right thing is virtually meaningless to a company the size of HBO,' former state Sen. Jen Metzger told the paper. 'People's lives are at stake and that's really all that matters.'
A contaminated pile of burned car parts and other junk such as blown-out oil tanks also put nearby residents at risk, according to a February 2020 New York spill report.
Storm runoff from the pile of fire debris, possibly laced with toxic chemicals, drained down a slope and into Rios' backyard, the state report noted, the LA Times reported.
'It's a very hard thing for a small community to have a trauma like that,' said Steven Kelley, Ellenville Regional Hospital chief executive. 'And there was this pile of rubble still sitting there for about a year — reminding us how bad [the fire] was.'
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Others who lost cars and equipment in the fire said they have yet to be compensated.
4 Some residents of the upstate town have blamed HBO for the fire.
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HBO has denied it was at fault for the fire, saying an ion battery used on set malfunctioned and citing 'the negligence…of a third party,' according to the LA Times.
'HBO has been producing shows on location all around the globe for decades, always with the utmost care and respect for the local environment and community,' the company said in a statement. 'It was no different for this series. The fire was an unforeseen accident, and it took time to investigate it thoroughly.'
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The company reportedly also shifted cleanup responsibility of the left-behind pile of fire debris to the owner of the car dealership.
Earlier this year, HBO and its insurance companies settled claims with some parties involved, including the owner of 613 Automotive Group.
In its statement, HBO also noted that the only remaining lawsuit is the one brought by the two neighboring families.
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Ruffalo, meanwhile, went on to win an Emmy for his portrayal of twin brothers in the drama, which is based on Wally Lamb's 1998.
Reps for Ruffalo and HBO didn't immediately return a The Post's request for comment Thursday.