Brooklyn - 10th Alarm multi-unit warehouses 5-2-06

[Guest]

credit: WABC TV NY

Huge warehouse complex completely engulfed in flames

Fire burning since around 5:30 this morning

Eyewitness News

(Greenpoint-WABC, May 2, 2006) -

A fifth-alarm fire burned through a vacant warehouse complex in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, sending a heavy plume of smoke that could be seen for miles.

Newscopter Seven is live over the screen.

The spectacular flames broke out in a large vacant warehouse on West Street, at the intersection of Nobel Street along the East River, just after 5:30 a.m.

The fire quickly consumed the sprawling, approximately 200x600, three-story warehouse on the property of the old Greenpoint Terminal Market.

Flames then spread to two adjacent buildings, both vacant, in the complex. Heavy flames were visible from the nearby buildings.

Fire officials say no injuries were immediately reported. The building was unoccupied but it was not clear if there had been any squatters living in the structure.

At least 200 firefighters, 50 units and water boats were battling the flames.

The Greenpoint Terminal Market, established in 1890, was at one time the second largest industrial employer in Brooklyn.

The dilapidated building complex now serves as a set for film productions. It has been slated as the potential future site of a park.

Edited May 2, 2006 by hoss

[Guest]

credit: WABC TV NY

[Guest]

credit: WNBC TV NY

[Guest]

credit: WNBC TV NY

[Guest]

credit: WNBC TV NY

[Guest]

credit: WNBC TV NY

[Guest]

credit: WABC TV NY

The three-story warehouse, on West Street between Quay and Noble streets, is officially unoccupied -- though it was unclear whether squatters were living in the structure, which takes up one square block, Kane said.

Department of Transportation spokesman Chris Gilbride said there were no detours or shutdowns of any major highway due to the smoke.

However, he said there were slowdowns on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, the Kosciusko Bridge and the FDR Drive between 30th and 40th streets, mainly because motorists were trying to see what was causing the smoke

source: wnbc.com

Edited May 2, 2006 by hoss

[Guest]

credit: AP Photo

[Guest]

credit: AP PHOTO/Bebeto Matthews

[Guest]

credit: AP PHOTO/Bebeto Matthews

[Guest]

credit: Judith Levitt/NYTimes.com

credit: AP

Warehouse blaze injures 8 firefighters; smoke seen for miles

 

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

May 2, 2006, 12:17 PM EDT

A warehouse fire on the East River in Brooklyn on Tuesday sent plumes of thick black smoke over the city that could be seen for miles, as firefighters battled it for hours from land and boats. Eight firefighters suffered minor injuries.

Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta called it the largest fire in the city in more than a decade, excluding the World Trade Center attack, and said the cause was suspicious.

Flames enveloped the complex of seven vacant warehouses, blocking out the morning light and filling the Greenpoint neighborhood with acrid smoke, and collapsing several building walls.

"That plus the fact that it started in the early morning are indications of a fire of suspicious origin," Scoppetta said.

Seventy Fire Department units and 350 firefighters battled the blaze and two marine units sprayed water on the flames from the East River. More than 6 million gallons of water were poured on the blaze, Scoppetta said. The fire was still not under control by noon, more than six hours after it erupted.

The fire started just after 5:30 a.m. and went to an eight-alarm blaze shortly after 9 a.m. A partial collapse of the largest of the seven warehouses split a nearby utility pole around 9 a.m., witnesses said.

"We were standing here. A block away, you could feel the heat," said Filip Mielnicki, 17, a neighbor watching the blaze with his friend, 18-year-old Wojciech Wasilewski.

Two firefighters were taken to a nearby hospital and the others were treated at the scene, Scoppetta said. Nearby residents wouldn't have to be evacuated, but Scoppetta cautioned them to stay away from the smoke, which was still intense at midday.

The warehouse complex on West Street between Quay and Noble streets -- measuring 200 feet by 800 feet -- is officially unoccupied, though it was unclear whether squatters were living there, fire officials said. It was not clear what was inside the warehouses, but Scoppetta said bales of cloth burned in one of the buildings.

Edited May 2, 2006 by hoss

[Guest]

credit: AP PHOTO/Bebeto Matthews

[Guest]

credit: AP PHOTO/Bebeto Matthews

...More than 400 New York City firefighters battled a sprawling nine-alarm fire this morning in a complex of seven abandoned warehouses in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

No deaths or serious injuries were reported in the fire, which began about 5:30 a.m. and quickly escalated.

Twelve firefighters were reported to have suffered minor injuries and five were taken to Bellevue Hospital. The remaining seven were treated at the scene.

The fire department used five fireboats and ladder towers as more than 70 firefighting units battled the blaze at the warehouse complex on West Street between Quay and Noble Streets.

Shortly after 9 a.m. large walls of the buildings began collapsing into the streets, sending bricks flying up to 100 feet...

source: NYTimes

Edited May 2, 2006 by hoss

[Stewie 1]

Anyone have a run down of the units on scene?? if it is possible

[JBE 328]

I'll have it for you guys tomorrow AM if someone doesn't get it to you before.

[BedfordFire 7]

Is the fire extinguished?

[FDNY 10-75 640]

10th Alarm Just Transmitted!

[Guest]

Were the fire fighters that were taken to the hospital ok. and also is it under control yet.

[Guest]

credit: WNBC TV NY

...More than 90 firefighting units, including at least eight ladder towers and five fireboats, responded to the fire at the warehouse complex on West Street between Quay and Noble Streets.

Dark billowing plumes of black smoke reached into the air and drifted over the East River. Flames rose 70 to 80 feet above the five-story buildings, owned by Joshua Guttman, on a parcel of land about 200 by 800 feet.

"It was like a flame thrower," said John Czapkinski, 65, who lives on Noble Street about a block away from the site of the fire.

By 3 p.m., the Fire Department said the fire was still ongoing and was not considered to be under control. Firefighters were expected to remain on the scene well into the night.

Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said that the fire had been deemed suspicious in nature and was under investigation but that the cause remained unknown. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who visited the scene, said, "There was a guard here overnight. He apparently left and the fire broke out."

Mr. Bloomberg added that when firefighters arrived "there was an enormous amount of fire — and that itself leads one to believe that perhaps there was an accelerant used to get the fire going."....

Source: NYTimes

Edited May 2, 2006 by hoss

[R1SmokeEater 359]

http://www.pbase.com/fd1075ny/bk990036&page=1

[JetPhoto 626]

http://www.pbase.com/fd1075ny/bk990036&page=1

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Can You say HOLY S***

Great Shots!

[Guest]

Daniel, congrats!!!!!! Awesome pics of a gigantic blaze ! You've gotta be sunburned......

Again, great job,

Henry

Edited May 2, 2006 by hoss

[Guest]

Wow, great Pics. You have a nice style when taking your pictures. Keep up the good work.

[mlfcemt093 0]

all i can say is awesome

[RocklandFires 44]

Great shots ! Wish I could have been there !

[brgold 0]

now THATS a fire!

[20y2 43]

That's the first time I've ever hear of a tenth alarm, there must be relocations from the Bronx, SI and anywhere else to cover that many units out.

[Guest]

May 3, 2006

Blaze on Brooklyn Waterfront Levels Historic Warehouses

By MICHAEL WILSON

THE NEW YORK TIMES

A fire roared through a network of abandoned, historic warehouses on the Brooklyn waterfront yesterday with a speed and ferocity that challenged and exhausted hundreds of firefighters, and led fire marshals to suspect arson.

The blaze burned all day as it consumed a former rope factory on West Street near the site of the Continental Iron Works in Greenpoint, which launched the ironclad warship Monitor for the Union 144 years ago.

The fire blackened the sky above northern Brooklyn with thick smoke shot through at its base with bright flames a block deep. The plume could be seen for miles. .

More than 350 firefighters from at least 70 units spent all day at the fire, those in front retreating to safety when entire walls crumbled and launched smoldering red bricks 100 feet down the narrow streets of the waterfront.

At 10 alarms, it was called the city's largest fire in more than a decade, excepting the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The speed of the blaze and the fact that it started just before dawn in abandoned buildings led investigators to suspect arson, said Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta.

The buildings were owned by Joshua Guttman, of Lawrence, N.Y., a real estate developer with a history of buying commercial properties and turning them into condominiums.

A lawyer for Mr. Guttman, Joseph Kosofsky, said the developer had no idea how the fire began. "It's the last thing in the world we need right now," he said. "He's a very substantial guy. If someone set fire to it, it could have been squatters, it could have been anybody. How in the hell can you watch 21 acres of industrial property?"

...Mr. Guttman had acquired demolition permits for 4 of his 10 sites in the area and had filed preliminary requests for 6 more on Monday, said Jennifer Givner, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Buildings.

...As the sun set last night, the fire was still going, although the threat of it spreading was under control, the department said. Fourteen firefighters were injured, none seriously. Nine were treated at hospitals.

...The search for the cause will be complicated by the collapse of the buildings, which may have buried evidence... When the first fire companies arrived, the flames were already shooting through the roofs of two buildings closest to the water.

The first call to the Fire Department, describing a roof fire, came at 5:33 a.m. The flames quickly ran through the hive of 15 interconnected buildings on West Street between Noble and Oak Streets.

...An initial strategy of going into the buildings to attack the fire was quickly abandoned as the fire grew, Chief of Department Salvatore J. Cassano said. "We went to a defensive strategy," he said. "We're not going to risk anybody's life in a vacant building."

The turnout became something of a clinic in fighting a huge fire.

Although it was large and dramatic, there were few immediate threats to life, so officials had a chance to plan strategy and organize their resources.

Firefighters used several hose towers and five fireboats to spray up to eight million or nine million gallons of water. Water sluiced down the grooves between bricks and ran in thin streams through the streets of Greenpoint.

"The sky was orange at 7 o'clock," Chief Cassano said. "Tremendous radiant heat."

Commissioner Scoppetta said he expected firefighters to work through the night, followed by the demolition of what remained of the buildings. No one was forced to stay out of their homes, he said.

...Not counting the response on Sept. 11, 2001, which is not tracked in terms of alarms, yesterday's fire was the largest in the city since Aug. 26, 1995, when what would have amounted to a 16-alarm fire, with more than 500 firefighters, swept through the landmark St. George Hotel in Brooklyn.

[JM15 386]

Those really are awesome pictures

[Guest]

Thanks for the shots R1, look great! How long did you hang around to get pics?