A Queens engineer faked certifications for balconies in a Brooklyn building where a firefighter miraculously escaped death fighting a blaze in 2008, authorities charged yesterday.
Officials said that Vasilios Kourkoumelis, 34, of Astoria, filed official papers in January 2006 stating that the balconies had been fixed to comply with the city’s building code and that he had personally inspected them.
But the city Department of Investigation said neither was true.
The owner of the building, at 222 Kings Highway, had been cited in 1988 for erecting the balconies without a permit.
On Dec. 30, 2008, while battling a fire in the three-story structure, the top-floor balcony collapsed while firefighter Andrew Sheirer was on it.
He tumbled 30 feet into a pool of water but somehow survived with only minor injuries.