Mysterious black soot plagues Manhattan building

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - Some residents of an apartment building on the Upper West Side say black soot has been seeping into their homes since October 2018. The soot is everywhere: on windows, walls, lights, furniture, curtains, clothes. But where is it coming from?

Rosa Roman has lived at 12 West 101st Street for the last 40 years. She has worked hard to keep her rent-stabilized apartment clean and maintained. But that has been next to impossible lately because of the black soot. She believes the soot is from the building's boiler.

Julia Chaperon has lived in the building for 20 years. She said the black soot puffing from her heating pipe has been a constant problem.

Photos shared with Fox 5 by the tenants show black soot covering a high chair. They say it has been coming in from a heating pipe.

But the superintendent told Fox 5 that nothing is wrong with the boiler.

The Department of Buildings inspected the boiler after Fox 5 reached out. In a statement, the DOB said an inspector checked out the building.

"During the inspection, they found no evidence of black smoke or soot in the building. They inspected the boiler and chimney and determined that both were working properly, and were well maintained," the DOB said in the statement. "No violations were issued as a result of this inspection."

But Roman and Chaperon won't take no for an answer. They claim the soot is making them sick and they refuse to give up until its fixed. Chaperon said someone needs to do environmental testing to figure out what is going on.