Manhattan 10-60 Building Explosion/Collapse

[ajsbear 11]

Jul 10, 2006 9:42 am US/Eastern

White House: Manhattan Explosion Not Terrorism

Firefighters Search For People Trapped In Rubble

LIVE: Manhattan Building Collapse

(CBS) NEW YORK A three-story building at 32 East 62nd Street in Manhattan exploded this morning and is burning. The fire has now gone to a fourth alarm.

Hundreds of firefighters and rescue workers are on scene at what FDNY officials are calling this a "major incident."

The White House issued a statement this morning that this incident is not terrorism.

There are reports of multiple people trapped inside the building. At this point, two people on the street were injured, and they have been taken to New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. Their injuries are are reported as minor.

FDNY workers are climbing over the rubble of the collapsed building to try to get to those who are reportedly trapped underneath. The FDNY Collapse Response Unit has arrived on the scene and has joined the search.

Yaakov Kermaier, 36, a resident in a building next door, said he was outside when he heard "a deafening boom. I saw the whole building explode in front of me."

"Everybody started running, nobody knew what was coming next," he said. His nanny and newborn escaped from their next-door apartment unharmed.

TV host Larry King, who had been in his hotel room nearby, described the explosion to CNN as sounding like a bomb and feeling like an earthquake.

"I've never heard a sound like that," King said.

Thad Milonas, 57, was operating a coffee cart across from the building when he said the ground shook and the building came down.

"In a few seconds, finished," Milonas said. "The whole building collapsed."

He said he saw at least four injured people, including two bleeding women he helped from the scene.

Streets around the area are closed so ambulances and rescue units can respond.

There was a doctor's office and a beauty salon in the buiding along with multiple residences.

The first calls came into 9-1-1 at around 8:50 a.m. The first emergency personnel on the scene reported a major fire and collapse.

Adjoining buildings have also caught fire, and heavy black smoke is visible for miles as it rises 2,000 feet above the blaze.

Area hospitals are on alert for victims from the incident.

(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

[ENG47INE 17]

Now @ 11:39AM a 5th alarm transmitted w/11 injured 2 serious injuries which where the doctor and a firefighters. there were 4 civilian injuries the rest firefighters.

[INIT915 1,119]

Now @ 11:39AM a 5th alarm transmitted w/11 injured 2 serious injuries which where the doctor and a firefighters. there were 4 civilian injuries the rest firefighters.

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NYJournalnews.com reporting the injured Doctor is Nicholas Bartha. Some of you EMS'ers may recognize his name, as he has been a per diem ER Doctor at the old Yonkers General and more recently at Phelps Memorial Hospital, although I haven't seen him there in some time now.

"...New York City Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said only one person appeared to be in the building, a doctor who owns the building and lives in an apartment above his medical office. The doctor, identified as Nicholas Bartha, had to be removed from the bottom of the rubble and appeared to be critically injured, Scoppetta said...." (nyjournalnews.com)

[IzzyEng4 427]

6th Alarm just transmitted for relief purposes.

11:58am

[Guest NYTruckie]

He also working per diem at Mt. Vernon ER

[JM15 386]

New York City Building Collapses In Gas Leak Blast

courtesy of WABC/firehouse.com

Investigators are learning more about the doctor and dentist who worked inside of the building that blew up on Manhattan's East Side on Monday. It took rescuers an hour to reach them. Marcus Solis has more on today's terrifying events, and why authorities now are saying they believe this was no accident, but instead all the result of a suicide attempt.

A gas leak, a messy divorce and a building worth millions. They're the ingredients in an explosive situation. Investigators now believe today's terrifying events were due to a suicide attempt and not an accident.

By now the cause of the explosion is no longer a mystery. A natural gas leak leveled the structure, reducing it to rubble.

Con Edison actually responded to the building next door this morning, when a resident called to complain about the smell of gas. But the leak was actually at 34 East 62nd Street. At 8:40 the building blew, jarring residents and people in nearby buildings.

Male Witness: "There was a deafening boom and I started screaming at my wife and two kids across the street to run, run, run, because I didn't know if there was going to be another explosion."

The first two floors of the four story building were occupied by a doctor's office and the top two were converted into a duplex apartment owned by Dr. Nicholas Bartha and his wife.

Bartha was alone at the time and was found barely alive. The fire department say the blast is being investigated at a suicide attempt.

The doctor's suicide plans were apparently spelled out in an e-mail to his wife's lawyer. Sources say Bartha is in the midst of a messy divorce.

Nicholas Scoppetta, FNDY Commissioner: "In some communication with somebody outside the building which leads us to believe there was a potential for suicide."

Sources say the divorce was proceeding since 2002 and that a judgment was just handed down against the doctor on Friday. The building was set to be put on the market for sale at the end of the month as part of the settlement.

All morning, Newscopter Seven was live over the scene of the blast between Park and Madison. Smoke could be seen rising in the distance, and pushed people out of nearby buildings it was so strong.

The three alarm blaze that followed the blast brought 44 FDNY units and some 200 firefighters to the scene.They started working with shovels and anything they could get their hands on to see if there are any people to be rescued under the debris.

At least 11 injuries have been reported, six of them to firefighters and five to civilians. Three of the firefighters were taken to Lenox Hill Hospital, three to Weil-Cornell Medical Center at New York-Presbyterian. It's said the injuries to the firefighters are not serious.

Four of the five civilians hurt went to Weill-Cornell, one refused medical aid at the scene. Two of the civilians were seriously hurt and they went to Weill.

Some witnesses feared the blast was a bomb, or the work of terrorists. The White House issued a statement saying that there is no indication at all, and no thought whatsoever, that the blast might be any sort of act of terror.

TV host Larry King, who had been in his hotel room nearby, described the explosion to Eyewitness News as sounding like a bomb and feeling like an earthquake.

Larry King: "I was on the 15th floor and I heard an explosion which I had never heard before. I thought of "9/11" and I saw people running. The only sound I've heard like this is in movies. It sounded like the bombing in London during World War II."

There is always heavy street traffic in this area, and it's going to be a gridlock situation for many hours.

-- As of mid-morning, southside of Park Avenue and Madison Avenue were completely shut down and backups were seen all through the 60s and 70s on the East Side.

-- Northbound sound of Park Avenue has remained open.

-- Avoid areas near the Eastside of Central Park from 59th Street Bridge on up to Lexington Avenue.

The Transit Authority tells us that several east side and crosstown bus routes have been rerouted as a result of the explosion. The TA says the:

# M1, M2, M3, M4, M30, M66, and the M72 bus lines are running on Third Ave between 56th and 65th Streets.

# Subway service on the 4,5 and 6 lines was not affected by the explosion but there may have been some residual delays from an accident in Greenwich Village earlier this morning.

As for other damage done by the explosion: The Links Club at 36 E 62nd St has damage to the rear of its building. City emergency officials are examining the structural stability of 30 and 32 E 62nd Street. Residents of 30 East 62nd Street and the Cumberland House high-rise has been evacuated as a precaution.

Some people said they had come out earlier in the morning to walk their dogs and had smelled a faint smell of gas but did not report it. Now they are filled with regret that they didn't. According to some residents who live next door they smelled gas as early as 6:30 a.m.

Nearby Resident: "There was just black smoke coming up and then out the front you could see some of the building's windows had blown out. It rocked our building, the building shook, it was like an earthquake."

Nearby Resident: "There was an explosion but the main noise came from the rubble hitting the ground. It was just terrifying, terrifying."

Eyewitness News is told the doctor suspected in all this apparently spoke with authorities on his cellphone to help them locate him, so they could pull him from the debris.

[Guest]

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2006/07/1...LIDESHOW_1.html

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/...=ny-main-bigpix

Edited July 10, 2006 by hoss

[Truck4 48]

http://www.myfoxny.com/myfox/

In the video section- footage from just after intial, as first due was rolling up.

[x635 4,066]

Planning on going on a train ride, getting my Chipotle burrito fix, people watching and just hanging around midtown tonight anyways, I stopped by the 10-60 and I managed to get some photos of the scene around 1900hrs this evening. I kind of wish I had gone in earlier, it was very easy to get to via Metro North/Subway. My photos are posted, www.emtbravo.com

After watching the news coverage throughout the day, it seemed like the building and scene would be much bigger. It was real small, but the response was massive....I can only imagine what the scene was like earlier in the day. It impresses me every time I go into the city, whether for a high profile incident like this, or everyday stuff, the resources NYC has.

Also, flipping around the different channels this morning, it's amusing what the media comes up with. Fox News Channel was discussing in depth with, of all people, a congressman from Indianna, around 10AM, the possibilty that this was terrorism, and that Al-Queda had warned they had "soft targets", such as apartment buildings, in their scope. I found that disgusting and irrational, and there is no need to even go into that kind of angle. It's this type of media that is terrorism. On the flip side, I was impressed with some reporters though and their knowledge of FD operations.

I agree, best footage was Channel 5's helicopter "Skyfox HD", which got there just as the first units did, with the building fully involved. I'm suprised more channels helo's didn't catch it.

[WAS967 97]

Fox 5 just reported it may have been a suicide attampt by Dr. Bartha second to a bitter divorce.

[JustSomeGuy 0]

Do we have an official cause? I think I heard something about a gas leak which made its way into the building.

[WAS967 97]

One previous tenant mentioned having to call ConEdison numerous times for Gas Leaks. They are pointing as a gas leak being the causative factor apparently.

[IzzyEng4 427]

One previous tenant mentioned having to call ConEdison numerous times for Gas Leaks. They are pointing as a gas leak being the causative factor apparently.

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I think at first one of the initial reports was that they gas leak was reported in one of the buildings next door. This was as of yesterday as I was watching Gooday NY yesterday. Did they trace it back to the fire building, you would automatically think the "leak" was there.

[27east 19]

According to one news channel I was watching yesterday morning, someone passing by smelled gas around 6:30am, but "didn't know who to call."