Look! Up in the air! UPDATE: Washington/St Johns Fire

idlewild

For whom do the whirly-birds (I'm guessing NYPD) search on this beautiful and very early Saturday morning?

wpdv

They're covering the huge fire on the corner of St. John's and Washington Avenue.

idlewild

Wow! Okay. I didn't hear any sirens at all except for an ambulance racing up my block. I hope no one's hurt. Is it an NYPD copter or news?

wpdv

I think it's NYPD or NYFD. Not sure.

joeschmo

It is an NYPD Chopper covering a huge fire on washington and st. johns. I woke up this am around 4 to huge flames out my window.

rcgroom

I hope everyone in the building is ok. That building has been under construction for quite a while. There are always old men sitting around underneath the scaffolding there...

joeschmo

god

My heart go's out to Ali's Laundromat and the guys from the deli. Hope they can rebuild their lives again.

ghostinthemachine

Woke up to it too. I couldn't see the fire, but the sheer amount of fire engines made me realize it was extremely serious. No fatalities thankfully, but a firefighter was injured.

ABC news story

I also watched someone's YouTube video of the fire, but the link isn't working here.

tyson

Wow. Thanks for posting. This is terrible. I also thought it was a manhunt, didn't think it might be a fire.

sweet tea

holy shit.

thank you for posting this; i heard the helicopters, too, and also assumed perp search.

that video is terrifying.

glad the building was empty; sounds like a fire fighter was hurt, though.

i sure hope this was an accident. but i admit that i wonder.

whynot_31

I was told no fatalities by a fireman

whynot_31

The building is reduced to a shell.

No floors or structural supports exist to keep the facade stable.

It would not surprise me if DOB orders that it be torn down.

Pre-fire, DOB had already mandated sidewalk scaffolding to protect pedestrians from the possibility of falling bricks and the like.

thinkdream

maybe richard meier will put up another building there now.

whynot_31

I predict the NYC supervised demolition crews will arrive today or tomorrow, and we will then have a vacant lot until we have a new owner.

GOD said:

My heart go's out to Ali's Laundromat and the guys from the deli. Hope they can rebuild their lives again.

yup

armchair_warrior

wow that sucks.

hmm wonder if there were squatters, alot of fires all over the country are cause by them heating things inside a building.

besides that disgruntle former tenant or landlord for insurance money.

or some worker left paint or cleaning supplies around that might be flammable or expose wiring etc...

bkchickie

I'm having a hard time figuring out which building this is/was. ABC News story says it was a seven-story building, but the video makes it look smaller than that.

So glad no one was killed, because it looks like it was huge.

mg

Seven apartments, maybe, but it's four floors: the corner store and then three stories atop that. It's on the southwest corner of Washington and St. John's, the one with those red clothes collection boxes outside.

The exterior walls of the top three floors of the building next to it (on St. John's, going toward Underhill) had fallen in by the time I went by at 11:30 this morning. The big OEM bus was there, along with a few news crews.

I hope nobody else gets hurt.

whynot_31

Using water pressure, exterior walls are being demolished by fire department over the last hour or so.

A contracted demo crew will follow.

....when they are done a few days from now, it will be flat vacant lot surrounded by either plywood or a chain link fence.

jr5597

Was walking to Tom's around 10 and saw this mess. That video....holy shit.

I'm glad everyone seems to be ok...there looked to be quite a few apartments that had windows broken/damage. How terrifying.

idlewild

I guess PETCO has a Prospect Heights location as well, now.

joeschmo

the flames consumed so much of our field of vision, we thought all of prospect heights was on fire, including our building when we woke up and looked out the window. the video I took was after the larger part of the flames, embers were flying for at least a block or two and we thought we would have to leave our building almost 400 feet (two streets) to the north.

I am very surprised that it took so long for the FDNY to be called, we are very lucky that there is a station less than a block from the building; flames and embers were going across the street.

armchair_warrior

who needs a petco, hmm i think i could go for a arcade!!

oshma

For a third alarm or greater, an FDNY battalion chief is taken up in an NYPD helicopter for air reconnaissance (air recon).

FYI--one of the first engine companies to respond (Engine 280 on 11th Street) is on the list to be closed due to budget cuts.

bohuma

joeschmo said:

I am very surprised that it took so long for the FDNY to be called, we are very lucky that there is a station less than a block from the building; flames and embers were going across the street.

Unfortunately, I am not surprised. The FDNY responds when an automated alarm notifies them of an incident or someone calls 911. In this case, it would seem that none of the affected buildings had an alarm system and most of the people

in the neighborhood were either asleep and didn't notice, or did notice and perhaps assumed the FDNY had already been called. This is quite a common phenomenon worldwide - everyone assumes someone will take care of it but no one does.

Two possible solutions: First, most domestic, monitored security systems come with a smoke detector. If one of the businesses affected had one of these, the security company would have called the FDNY. Second, if people smell smoke (even at two or three in the morning) they should investigate and if there seems to be fire or you're unsure, call 911. The FDNY don't like malicious false alarms, but if you call 911 and say, I smell smoke at such and such a place, they will investigate.

architecture biscuit

My heart go's out to Ali's Laundromat and the guys from the deli. Hope they can rebuild their lives again.

+1

amy sara clark

Lori Heddinger, a professional photographer who lives right near the fire sent us amazing photos of the fire, which are now posted on our site, ProspectHeights.Patch.com

http://patch.com/A-jbfh

We have a reporter trying to get more information about how the fire started today.

joeschmo

according to ACRIS

http://a836-acris.nyc.gov/Scripts/DocSearch.dll/BBLResult

the owner of the property at 816 Washington Avenue is CPC Resources. The same developer who built the building on sterling between washington and classon, and who just got approval to develop the old domino sugar factory.

whynot_31

I was able to talk with one of the "city employees" at the site. He stated the fire dept has yet to determine the cause of the fire, and is in the process of analyzing video, burnt wood, etc to try to figure it out. He estimated it would take a few days, possibly a week.

If they determine the cause is "likely suspicious", they will order that a very tedious, slow demolition of the building be done in order to scour it for evidence.

If they determine the cause is "not likely suspicious", they will come in with heavy equipment to demolish what is left of the building and quickly haul the stuff away.

Until either determination is made, they will have firemen and police on site to guard it.

>>816 Washington is the building that burned, and the landlords have stated the building had no one living in it. Two businesses rented on the first floor (the laundry and the bodega). Perhaps needless to say, that building and its businesses are completely destroyed.

>>>The residents of 820 Washington and 824 Washington have been displaced, and now reside with family, friends, hotels, or in a facility paid for by Red Cross. The first floor businesses of 820 and 824 are also closed. The DOB will determine when and whether they are able to return. The buildings are in need of extensive repairs.

redheeler

One of my neighbors pointed out to me that the contractor who was doing the construction work had been doing asbestos removal - had pulled permits for it through the DOB - but wasn't following any asbestos abatement protocol (tenting the area, respirators, double sealed entrances to site, so on.) I haven't followed up about this but know from casually passing by the scaffold/site that it was being run a bit haphazardly (they were throwing the roofing materials, apparently the source of the asbestos, down the side of the building into the open area beside the building on St. Johns and then carrying it out to dumpsters.)

If there were a strong and active community on St. Johns those issues could have been brought before the DOB and stop work orders issued. While it obviously wouldn't have prevented the fire (or arson) a strong community presence - on an issue as salient as asbestos removal - would have had an effect.

On that same note that site is now going to be redeveloped. If St. Johns place can get its act together they can impact that process for the benefit of the block. That was a beautiful building that was burned - it should be replaced with the equivalent.

pitu

THX whynot, redheeler, and joeschmo for the info

a friend of mine is a friend of one of the people who got burned out in adjacent building -- now her and her kid are in a hotel. If you're looking to help out, here's one way.

Greetings Lovers,

If you haven't heard, we have a poet in crisis and we're hoping our wonderful community can step up and help take care of business. Nuyorican Host and Poet extraordinaire Mahogany Browne was evacuated from her apartment due to a four-alarm fire that broke out next to her.

The entire building collapsed. Thankfully, Mo and her daughter were able to get out safely, but the homes adjacent to the burned down building have been closed off while an investigation is in effect. Her family is now forced to live in a hotel indefinitely. The cost, of course, is astronomical, but when you factor in having to replace clothing and toiletries, phone chargers, school books, food, etc., the cost rises to an emergency level.

I am a dunce when it comes to creating donation buttons that actually work, but time does not wait for the electronically challenged. So, Mo has agreed to let me accept donations on her behalf. If you can send money to help her and her family, even a dollar, please send it to: [email protected] via Paypal. If you don't know how, simply log into your account, click the "Send Money" tab and enter the email address. Also, if you click on the "personal tab" once you set your donation, Paypal will not deduct any money from it. Feel free to repost this message far and wide. Thanks in advance.

Love & Fire Drills,

Rachel McK.