Brooklyn 2nd Alarm Firehouse/NYPD Precinct

[RocklandFires 44]

What an end to a beautiful day in New York City ! Today was the New Jersey Metro Fire Photographers Association's Annual FDNY bus trip. This year we set out to Queens in the begining of the day and finished off in Brooklyn. Our last stop of the day was to E.207/L.110 [Tillary Street Tigers]. We were only 10 blocks away from the firehouse when we could see smoke in the sky. At first we thought it was a boiler malfunction. As we got a little bit closer we knew it wasn't. We were only 4 blocks away when the 10-75 was given for a fire on the roof of the firehouse, which is also the same building as the NYPD 84 Precinct. A huge column of smoke was coming from the roof with some fire visible from the #2 side of the building, which was a parking lot. As I walked down the street on the exposure #2 side of the building there was a huge explosion on the roof with an intense fireball. With that, what appeared to be a 55 Gallon Drum landed aproximately 10 feet to my left just behind an NYPD Police car. A 2nd metal cylander then landed aproximately 5 feet to my right side. This cylander was still on fire. It was crazy. Once Tower Ladders were set up on the #1 & #4 sides of the building, the fire was quickly knocked down. It was a most memorable FDNY bus trip for the 60 buffs that attended.

Here is a link to the photos I took with my digital camera: Brooklyn 2nd Alarm

I took more photos with my print camera, which will be uploaded to the same site tomorrow night, so please check back for better fire and action shots.

Brian Duddy - Central Nyack FD / NJMFPA

[ONLOCATION 24]

Thats insane, nice photo op though, two birds one stone kinda thing

[Guest]

Wow, Thats Intense. Nice Pics

[JM15 386]

Any word on damage or cause of the fire yet?

[RocklandFires 44]

Any word on damage or cause of the fire yet?

←

Apr 30, 5:08 PM EDT

Fire on roof of NYC building housing police station, firehouse

NEW YORK (AP) -- A fire erupted Sunday on the roof of a building shared by a police station and a firehouse, causing construction workers' gas tanks to explode and shoot fireballs into the sky.

Three 100-pound propane cylinders exploded, but the 10 workers, who were tarring the roof, escaped unharmed, the fire department said.

"If they hadn't gotten off the roof in time we could have had several dead people," fire Deputy Assistant Chief John Coloe said.

One of the 100 responding firefighters was injured when she fell down some stairs.

The fire started at 3:11 p.m. on top of the downtown Brooklyn building that houses the police department's 84th Precinct and the fire department's 31st Battalion, both of which were temporarily evacuated, Coloe said. It was declared under control about 3:45 p.m., and there was not much damage to the building.

No cause had been determined.

Tanks of propane often are used as fuel for the heat required in certain construction jobs, such as tarring a roof or curing concrete.

City Councilwoman Letitia James, who represents the area, said she would investigate whether the roofers were documented and why they were working on a Sunday.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[BedfordFire 7]

WOW good to see no one was in the way of those flying propane tanks!

[Guest]

Brian, great to hear that you and your buddies are well after one close call!!

10, 5 feet away, whoa...

Congrats on the 1st hand pics.

Stay safe,

Henry G.

[Guest BrotherFF]

Talk about being in the right place at the right time! Nice job on the pics

[210 91]

Really good photos man.