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A five-alarm fire at the abandoned Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse/Market is being fought this morning in dramatic fashion: News choppers show that the FDNY's marine units are at work - the warehouse occupie a 200' by 600' lot along the East River. (WNBC's Vivian Lee, on location, said the fire was making it feel like a 100 degree day even 50 yards away.) Last year, Tien visited the terminal market last year and found a description of it from the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Environmental Impact Study:
The Greenpoint Terminal Market site occupies over three blocks of land along the East River between Greenpoint Avenue and Oak Street. This site, which is largely vacant, includes six industrial buildings ranging in height from one to seven stories, several of which are severely deteriorated. Immediately south of the Greenpoint Terminal Market is a now vacant piece of land formerly occupied by Consolidated Freight, a national freight forwarding company that declared bankruptcy in August 2002.Also, the U.S.S. Monitor was built there when Continental Ironworks was located there. The warehouse's vastness made it seem ripe for a conversion of some sort (commercial-residential, perhaps) - see pictures from Flickr of its cool skyways.
Can any of you on the East Side see the fire?
UPDATE: We went over to check out the fire and can confirm that the fire was very, very hot from about two blocks away. It seemed like the FDNY was just trying to contain the fire in the current area and not let is spread to the surrounding buildings. We spoke to a couple people on the scene who were rather suspicious of the fire's origins. One person we spoke to, who has been inside before, said the interior is mainly wood, with lots of junk - including some antique fire fighting gear. As we were leaving the scene, parts of the southern wall were collapsing, shooting flames even higher into the air. It was easily the biggest fire we've ever seen.
Our full Flickr set from the fire. Additional photos on Flickr from Steph Goralnick and from from Randy Plemel.
Photograph on top left from WNBC; photograph on top right as well as updates from Tien Mao
UPDATE: here are a few more from GrubbyKid.
UPDATE: we also received reports of another fire at Kent and N7th, which is about ten blocks away, but it doesn't appear to be related. Latest news says it has been knocked down by firefighters.
UPDATE:: After a commenter left a note about developer Josh Guttman owning the Terminal Market, we took to finding out a little information. Guttman was the owner of a DUMBO property, which he transferred to a Limited Liability Company as 225 Water Street Associates LLC in 1995. A fire at that location in 2004 raised suspicions, which Guttman did not address when contacted by the Village Voice in 2004. Gothamist found that, like the properties on Water Street in DUMBO, the properties surrounding the area of the fire are not under Guttman's name for ownership. However, in a 2002 meeting in Greenpoint, Guttman expressed an interest in developing housing for the Greenpoint Terminal Market site. Additionally, we found that several of the buildings between West Street and the river (including the northwest and southwest corner of Noble and West) are already set up as LLC's with a common lawyer - Joseph Kosofsky of White Plains. Coincidentally, or not, a Joe K filed satisfaction of mortgage papers for the 255 Water St. property where Guttman was listed as the borrower.
Update: Firefighters are still working on putting out the now nine-alarm fire. The AP has an article with this tidbit:
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.NY1 says there's a lumberyard and furniture company in the area.
Update: The fire has been burning for since 5:30AM, and ten hours later, it gets its tenth alarm.
Update: at 5:45pm, the fire is still going strong, and isn't under control. We biked down to Greenpoint, and West Street was completely blocked off-- the closest we could get was Franklin. The fire appeared to be concentrated mainly in the south building near Oak Street, and the ruins of that building were still smoldering. The northern buildings and skybridges are still standing, but it was impossible to tell how much those buildings were damaged. Lots of police and neighborhood people standing around talking about the fire.
Afterwards, we biked back into Manhattan and took a picture from 16th Street and the FDR. Check it out:
Mihow also went back and got some great neighborhood reaction shots, and a couple of pix of the sunset.
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i just came from central park and from the northwest corner of the reservoir i could see the smoke from the fire. it didn't look as far away as greenpoint.
Gigantic flames from the FDR about 7:40 this morning. Dark smoke clouds across the east side of Houston.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/98401138@N00/139045377/
You can see the smoke from Hoboken.
I could see it all the way from Ditmars this morning.
The smoke is very impressive from the GWB.
would that be "asian reporter vivian lee"?
I could see the smoke as I was getting on the Staten Island Ferry this morning.
Did anyone see the Jersey brush fire on Saturday? That looked like armageddon from Manhattan!
i came out of my apartment and saw a huge cloud of black smoke directly east on 14th street. although maybe not directly east since it's apparently in greenpoint. still, pretty eye-opening.
I saw it as soon as I opened my eyes in Bushwick this morning, and I thought Manhattan was on fire. Let me tell you, depth perception does not function at 6:25am.
it was insane! the walls have started to fall. photos in a few!
it seems very, very suspicious!
I saw the flames from across Newton Creek on the 7 this morning at 745a ... looked pretty intense from a few hundred yards away.
Probably a perfect view from up in the LIC Citi building.
http://flickr.com/photos/jcn/139054801/
Got a wild view of the fire while biking over the Williamsburg bridge this morning. At one point flames shot what looked like several stories into the air! Woah!
Hey "me:" nice "Family Guy" reference...
You can bet that this land will be rezoned as residential and multi-million dollar condos will be going up sometime soon...
Definite smell of burning debris noted in Park Slope. Couldn't be sure if overcast skies were a result of smoke or the actual weather conditions.
Here are my photos - I got as close as West & Oak, and when the walls started to fall, they had to push the line back.
You can see huge plumes of smoke from Weehawken NJ. From that view, it actually looked like there was a huge fire raging near the Empire State Building. I was home and heard on the news about the fire so I knew right away what the cause of the smoke was, but when I jumped on the bus to work half an hour later, there were concerned people already sitting on the bus who had no idea what the smoke was about. Along Blvd East, which is a main road parallel to the Hudson River, people were calling friends & family to ask if there was a fire in Manhattan, that's how scary & close it looked from our vantage point. Sadly it reminded me of the smoke from the WTC collapse...
very scary to watch from a few blocks away. I've never seen smoke so huge and black before!
Developer's fire...
You can see the flames from the Queens side of the Midtown tunnel approach @ 8:50. Eight news helicoptes were visable too.
A Co-worker just mentioned that people on his bus from NJ were crying as the Smoke reminded them of 9/11. The Driver explaned what it was, but until he did a lot of people were freaking out.
Can't really blame them, that's the last big amount of smoke I can recall...
Any idea when it started? I live about five blocks from there, and me and my roommates heard a very loud *bang* last night sometime in the middle of the evening--we argued about whether it was a car backfiring, and then went back to playing video games.
stu, i think i heard that bang too...but i thought that was earlier in the night - around 8.
The smoke was clearly visible from my E. 72nd St. cul-de-sac this morning.
I snagged a couple of shots from Long Island City.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vincenzof/tags/greenpointwarehousefire/
Smells smoky in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn.
I could see it from my hallway in Astoria, and I had to go back into my apartment to look up where it was coming from.
I couldn't remember when the bang was--couldn't have been too late, since I moved from playing video games to surfing the Internet...
oy vey. it's bad that these are the touchstones of my evening.
Anyway, 8pm sounds about right. But this fire started in the middle of the night, apparently, so it must have been something else.
Weren't the abandoned warehouses used as filming locations? One guy told me they charged $5K a day to use them. I think that's why the condos never moved in.
It always looked like one faulty brick would send the whole thing crashing down.
Here's what it looks like from Union Square:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/olivial/139085654/
arson arson arson
More here: http://mihow.com/posts/2006/05/02/4207/
Plus, images of what it looked like before.
http://mihow.com/dailylinks/april29.html
My friend, Anna, thought it might be the Bowl. I called her a while ago, however. Is it? Did someone figure that out? She's on the Gotham Girls Roller Derby team and they practice there sometimes. Anyone know?
I could see the smoke from Astoria, near Steinway and 30th Ave.
on my way up the east side, i saw two more fire boats spraying the gas tanks just south of the terminal market to keep them cool. if tien's right, and this is intentional, it's unintentionally stupid and significantly more dangerous for the proximity of those tanks.
Stu, I also live about 5 blocks away, and that bang shook my windows. Is it possible there was some kind of internal explosion that resulted in a slow-burning fire? It's a strange coincidence, especially since no one seems to know what caused the sound.
How valuable is this land? Should we expect giant cranes in that part of Brooklyn, too?
what's with all these fires?
Speculator's, developers?
We're on Milton - about a block away - and we heard the bang shortly before 8. It sounded like it was in our building, it was so loud.
1010 WINS says at 9am this went to 7 alarms.
Anyone know who owns the land?
What a coincidence! Josh Guttman's the owner!
SAVE THE PALESTINE!!! or at least the watertower.
i would think the fire won't be spreading too far south b/c there's a large expanse btwn the warehouse and buildings south.
that's an interesting hypothesis jane.
jen, i would think cranes are already being moblized.
My gut says arson as it makes it cheaper for redevelopment when the building is knocked down through fire (which can potentially injure or kill some of The Bravest). Hopefully the fire marshal will investigate fully.
Yeah, we heard the bang last night at the Franklin Corner Store (the place w/ the "named sandwiches"). I'm sure this was around 8pm. It sounded a bit too loud to be a backfiring car.
Still not sure on how the fire got started,
Happened around 5 am.
Per NY1
i saw that smoke when i was getting on the L this morning. i wonder if that's why the trains were so slow..
it actually makes me really sad. last summer my (now) ex and i were wandering around greenpoint and stumbled upon that building. we spent a lot of time discussing how we were going to turn those skyways into our dream apartment
I recently went on a flickr-organized photostroll through and around the Greenpoint Terminal Market and what a wonderful place to photograph. (HERE we are taking pics) I was so, so sad to learn of this fire this morning on the news, and then to see the plumes of smoke overhead on my way to the train this morning.
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this fire was started by some unsavory developers.
I heard the bang yesterday too. Thought it was kids setting off firecrackers. Woken up by choppers/sirens today at 6:20a.
I was also woken up by shouts of "Fire!" on Sunday night/Monday morning at 1:00am- an apartment building was burning on Norman Ave btwn Eckford and Leonard, across the street from the library.
I am NOT trying to lay blame or stir up passions, but why was the same group of Hasidic men watching both fires? Then again, anyone who saw me at these scenes could ask the same thing of my presence.
Still, who owns the warehouse? Who owns the building on Norman?
As opposed to savory developers?
I, too, heard the bang last night around sunset, on Newel street near Nassau. It certainly sounded catastrophic, and too resonous to be either a gunshot or fireworks.
Pardon teh capital letters but this is important:
HAS ANYONE WHO'S BEEN TO THE SCENE HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT THE SQUATTERS THAT LIVED THERE?
We knew a guy living in there, he had a room right where those huge flames are in the photos.
The buildings were full of old clothing. The interiors were wood construction with many, many collapsed areas. The place was an old favorite of NYC explorers. There's plenty of photos of what it was like inside on the ltvsquad.com and just about every NYC UE site...
Anyway, if anyone hears about the squatters, and particularly the guy with a lot of tattoos, please post back or drop an email... I'm stuck at work so ...
Who is this Flickr user? He's marking all the fire photos as "favorites" and reposting a bunch as his own...very weird
http://www.flickr.com/photos/deryid/
Flames visible from the UWS this morning: http://www.flickr.com/photos/niznoz/139047664/
Pictures of the warehouses before the fire, including pictures of some of the inhabitants: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/greenpointterminalwarehouse/interesting/
What a coincidence! Josh Guttman's the owner!
Obvious, This is very interesting! the plot thickens.
I woke up at about 4:30 when my husband had a nighmare, then at about 6 I got dressed and we saw flames across the river in brooklyn. It looked like 2 buildings. first we saw smoke, then we saw red orange dots which we thought were flames coming from windows.
My husband thinks it is developers out to get the land. i dismissed it as a conspiracy theory, but now i am thinking different.
don't know about the evil jews at the norman ave fire but there are business and buildings on oak street owned by jews who are probably concerned about their buildings.
don't know about the evil jews at the norman ave fire but there are business and buildings on oak street owned by jews who are probably concerned about their buildings.
don't know about the evil jews at the norman ave fire but there are business and buildings on oak street owned by jews who are probably concerned about the fire spreading to their buildings.
I've got some photos of the Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse/Market area after a snowstorm on my flickr page.
OK - my previous comment is unfair. Some people stand out more than others, making their presence at two such similar events more conspicuous than others. AS I said, I watched both fires as well, so the same comment could be made about me. It was a stupid comment.
Still, I think attention should be paid to the fire on Norman Ave.
I'm pretty sure that's where the skate bowl is. I mentioned this in my earlier comment as well. I know that a lot of people - skateboarders and roller derby girls - use that space to skate.
It looks like Mr. Guttman already filed paperwork (retro active to 2001) with the DOB for demolition. Got approved 2 months ago.
Don't believe me? Look up 51 West Street on the DOB's Building Information System.
So, this means rents will be going down since
condos will be built, right? Supply and Demand, right?
I hope they catch whoever set this fire.
They are saying this is the largest fire seen in NYC in quite a while. 6 hours and still not controlled.
I hope people have homes to come back to tonight.
7 warehouses on fire, some cars caught fire.
I pray the firemen are safe.
Be careful guys.
why would guttman torch the building if he had clearance to demolish the building? I can understand the suspicion with the dumbo building because he didn't get to rezone the building.
Williamsburg looked like the Apocalypse... mustard colored sky, with chunky ash and East River water raining down out of the plume.
Maybe it was Rabbi Teitelbaum punishing his peeps for their succession battle!
How do you know all this jb?
62 - I was commenting on the information in post58
- about demolition permit. As far at Guttman's role check the village voice article linked in post 40.
as far as jews - I live on oak st and everyday I see the hasids who run a bakery and a bathroom supply store. They were the same hasids on the corner of west and oak at around 7:00am when I was watching the blaze.
An article in the Brooklyn Eagle quoted on Flickr says that Jack Guttman owns a 10% stake in the property.
I tried getting some info from the DOB BIS system,
apparently it's busy or slow.
Happens a lot, if you visit the DOB, there are days when their computer is down.
Shuts down the entire office.
i could see the fire from the B train this morning as it went over the bridge. no one else in my car seemed to care about the giant cloud of smoke in the air. from the angle you come into manhattan on that train, the smoke looked like it was coming from somewhere on the east side of manhattan. yikes.
And here is one of the building's sometime inhabitants on flickr.
Here are some pictures of the terminal market in better days
I spoke too soon on Guttman being the owner. He was as of 2002, but it looks like the building might have been sold last June.
As for clearance to demolish, in February, the Municipal Art Society notified City Council that they'd be targeting the GTW for preservation (among other buildings). Perhaps someone didn't want to risk another Austin-Nichols fiasco.
I live on Green Street...took some pictures from my window and a few on Manhattan Ave and Franklin...between 7:30AM and 9:OO AM. Posted on this url.
does anyone know what each alarm constitutes? is it number of firehouses called?
Does anyone know anything about the fire on N 7th and Kent?
Regarding the lumberyard to the north, I believe it is on Greenpoint Ave, a few blocks north. But as of 8:30am this morning, they were moving lumber away from the fire.
Yes mihow, this is where the skatebowl (the Autumn Bowl) is located. HERE and HERE are a pics I took in March.
:-(
If you can dig around the BIS system, you'll find that "EFI Construction" (a business Mr. Guttman clearly has ties to) has a hand in the work being done at 60 West and 42-56 West St. They have a number of open violations, too. It just keeps getting more and more interesting...
The fire on N 7th and Kent is apparently "nothing." (Talked to a friend who lives on N 8th.
He did say it's so smokey over there, his eyes are burning. And suddenly the smell of Greenpoint goes from poop and freshly baking bread to burning wood and god knows what else.
Neil,each alarm usually requires 4 Engine Companies and 2-3 Ladder Companies
I think the alarm thing also grows exponentially, in other words the higher the alarm, the more equipment they call out.
Not only more firefighting apparatus but more higher ups will be there and probably a mobile command station.
Now that the fire commissioner stated that the fire is "suspicious" let's see where they go with it.
Will the investigation be squashed due to influence.
Will the Mayor answer that? or, will he just berate you for asking?
Arson is cheaper than properly tearing down the building, and also may yield a fat insurance check. A greedy developer would not care that firefighters may get injured or die in the fire.
As for alarms here is a simple explanation:
Alarms refer to type and of FDNY units sent to a fire or other emergency situation. The amount of apparatus, chiefs, and other specalized units sent to a particular call will vary depending on what they are responding to. If needed, additional alarms are sounded to send more units.
You can find some detailed and technical information at FDNewYork.com.
for all you would-be fire buffs, cut and paste this link into your browser for an itemization of the amount of apparatus called to each alarm.
www.fdnewyork.com/aa.asp
TJ: I just posted the link to that in the comment above yours where I gave as a non-technical explination as I could. It was most likely posted mere seconds before yours.
Just went over to the Greenpoint fire and spoke with a firefighter about how long they'd be hosing it down (a few weeks). Then he made a semi-cryptic comment that: "Pretty soon, there will be luxury condos in this spot." This further confirms the suspicions that this was set on purpose so that the land could be developed.
Glad to see people jumping to conclusions about the owner torching it
I just came from the area. People were commenting that a several million dollar deal just fell through on purchasing it.
as an aside from the wild accusations made here, this is a terrible loss. It was a beautiful hulk of a building.
re post #83
hmmmm, ORLY?
you been Pwned.
The fire be suspicious, how else can 7 friggin warehouses go up in flames so quickly??
If any FDNY brothers get's hurt, I don't know what I'll do.
WTF?
10 Alarms??? AND
10 Hours later???
What's the building made of? Wood dipped in gasoline on top of more wood?
Here is an article on the proposed sale:
http://gothamgazette.com/community/33/news/2379
WTH? The property was advertised on CraigsList?
It just keeps getting better.
rev: basically, yes. all wood interiors, massive piles of clothing throughout. years ago I thought 'damn, this place is an inferno waiting to happen'.
This has been driving me bonkers. I realize that these buildings were a backdrop for many films, but there is one in particular I have been trying to remember all day. It's about a male seamstress. It's super indie and rather dark. Anyone know the name? I totally can't remember. The guy in the film lived in the same loft I used to live in (down near newton creek).
Anyone? It's driving me nuts.
>Glad to see people jumping to conclusions about the owner torching it
I'm with you. Maybe it was set by leprechauns!
"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." --NYT.
Not leprechauns at all, it was Charlie McGee for sure.
I loved these building and am really sorry to see them go.
When a suspicious fire happens the first question asked is "Who benefits from this?"
If it is arson, and that seems rather likely, the logical suspect is the owner.
The strong smell of smoke just arrived and my building is at the very southern point of the city.
I used to live a couple blocks away from that warehouse and am also sad to see it up in flames.
Ugh. The wind must have shifted because all of a sudden it smells like a tire fire down here on Wall Street. Seriously, not to be insensitive but it smells like post-9/11.
The smoke is blanketing downtown. I am near the brooklyn bridge and our fire warden came on to make an announcement that OUR building is NOT on fire. It is even smokey in my office on the 42 floor now. And it's been nearly 12 hours since the fire started.
There is a lot of speculation on the various 5PM newscasts that the fire is arson and WABC seems to imply it may have something to do with a meeting to try to landmark the buildings which is scheduled to tonight. Coincidence?
I am the 100th comment!
There was definitely a skate bowl there:
http://www.autumnskateboarding.com/skatespot.html
I'm annoyed that the press keeps saying that the buildings were abandoned when that's really not the case.
I posted some pics of the skate bowl earlier, but since I had more than one link, it must be tied up waiting for moderator approval. Bah! Here's a link to a pic I took when I was sneaking around down there in March:
http://flickr.com/photos/lasadh/107863850/
Larry Silverstein did it!
You know, my husband and I walked down West St. on Sunday p.m. and the area REEKED--- and not in the usual 'Greenpoint' way, i.e.: dog shit, bum piss, etc. My husband said the smell was diesel fuel.
the number of conspiracy theorists out there is frightening. there is no motivation for the owner of the building to burn down the structure for insurance reasons (they will undoubtedly be making a handsome profit on any possible future sale). given the location and usage of these old buildings, it would not be uncommon to find large amounts of manufacturing and industrial chemicals coupled with wood constructed portions of the building. lastly, there is no mysterious Landmarks Meeting today. The LPC's agenda for today's meeting can be found here: http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/calendar/05_02_06.pdf.
The fire is mostly out now -- I just came home from taking pics there.
Interesting that on Monday night signs were posted on Franklin Street, between Quay St. & Greenpoint Ave, "No Parking due to Construction beginning at 6 am"
What a coincidence that the streets were cleared of all parked cars in the exact area of the fire, allowing emergency vehicles in. The fire apparently started just before 6 am.
The reasoning transplants give here is amazing.
No conspiracy theory, just greed at work.
Wake up and smell the rancid air.
No it's not a landmark building but it's valuable waterfront property.
I hope to God, they find out who did this.
I'm willing to bet an accelerant was used.
Why would someone use it? Oh, I don't know.
Ask the owner.
Mr. (or Ms.) Bacon,
I do not find your assertions unreasonable; if someone was storing manufacturing chemicals in an unsafe manner there--- and if that is indeed the source of the fire--- I think we both would agree that this person should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. That said, there are too many 'red flags' for me to accept that this was merely a random accident. Seriously. Geez, the DOB doesn't even have a C of O on file for this building. This is the only time I have ever come across a building w/o a C of O. How can this be? Anyone got an answer? Seriously, I'd like to know.
>the number of conspiracy theorists out there is frightening
Well you can count the FDNY among them.
Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said the cause of the 10-alarm fire would be investigated as possible arson. "We're calling it suspicious in origin," he said in a street news conference two blocks from the scene. "The buildings were fully involved with fire when the first units arrived. That plus the fact that it started early in the morning are indications of a suspicious fire." --Newsday
I *think* the Autumn Bowl is up West a little bit.
The land was already rezoned for residential, so there was nothing to be gained in that regard.
What *was* to be gained was not having to be responsible for cleaning up the environmental hazards (very expensive), and not having to go to the expense of using the existing structures in the new development, as the both the community and Landmarks (and others) wanted.
The track record of Guttman includes filling his bldgs full of rotting trash to get rid of tenants, not to mention the similar DUMBO fire already mentioned in these comments.
To suspect foul play is not exactly conspiracy theory.
I live in Greenpoint, and this morning I saw the fire from my apt on McGuinness, then I walked over to Bedford and ironically there was another fire in WBurg this morning too on Kent. Does anyone know anything about that? I wouldn't be surprised if it's developers trying to save money. When it goes up in flames that's cheaper then having to demolish it.
That too, you're right, Somersalt. Not to mention - free insurance money !
is it just me or are there a LOT of fires recently?
I live on Franklin and Noble, and heard that incredibly loud bang last night too - originally, I thought it was some sort of an explosion right in my building, that's how intense the sound was.
Have been watching the news coverage of the fire all day yet no one's reporting anything about last night's mystery noise. If so many people heard it, you'd think the news crews would already know about it too...
regarding buildings and CofO's - it is not that surprising that buildings do not have CofO's, or that they would be online. The online DoB records only go back so far, and many buildings don't have CofO's because when they were built, there wasn't anything called a CofO. Also, the DoB, being a wonderful agent of the government, isn't exactly a speed demon when it comes to old records.
Anyway, not having a web-accessible CofO (or one at all) isn't so surprising. That doesn't mean that at every alteration a CofO should have been applied for. And that doesn't give the owner any waiver of liability of what was on the premises or how the premises were kept up.
The wind just shifted and my cat was the first one to notice the smell of smoke coming in our open window. Sixteen hours later, I really can't believe it's still burning.
Gutman used to be my landlord. I lived in one of his buildings for ten years. The building had no C of O and was full on residential. He is a shady man. Suspicion is justified.
Funny, but I just remembered that when I first went to his office to look into getting a loft space he had to run out-one of his buildings was on fire! He seemed really surprised.
Re: the bang last night, I live right near the Bedford Ave. L-train station and I heard it too. Loud and clear.
i haven't read through this comment thread in its entirety, nor have i watched tons of news... but: does anyone know what the asbestos situation is on this site? just thinking along the lines of "if this is not a legitimate regular ol' fire" - asbestos abatement, done properly, can be quite pricey. just throwing the bone out there.
Yes, there may be asbestos present.
If you look at the DoB BIS, you'll see the earliest record they have is 1916 and they recently filed an Asbestos report.
All buildings need it, if built prior to a certain year, I think the mid eighties.
It's still smoldering and smoking, keep your windows closed if you're sensitive to smoke irritants.
Earlier this evening, Channel 4 reported that 6 MILLION GALLONS of water had been used against the flames so far. That's just... I don't even know what more to say about that.
WNBC tried to track down Guttman and had great video of them going to an office knocking on the door. Hopefully the police and fire marshall know where he is, as he is the most likely suspect if it is an arson, given that he being the owner has the most to gain.
Look what this guy said in the WNBC news site,
They're going to save a lot of money on demolition," said Yuda Geller, a real estate agent who lives in Greenpoint.
I say, investigate him, too.
This will of course wind up as an episode of one of the Law & Order shows if it is an arson. My guess would be CI.
Wow best post!