A fire broke out at Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport this afternoon. The fire started just before 4 p.m.; according to initial reports, the fire is "under and involving" the pier. There's heavy smoke that can be seen as far as E. 14th Street. The FDNY have now deployed fireboats to combat the three-alarm fire—there's no other information available currently, since nobody is picking up at the FDNY right now.
The 4Knots Music Festival is going on all weekend at Pier 16 and 17, and it seems bands have had to pause in case of evacuation, according to various tweeters.
There have been no reports of injuries so far. Check out photos of the fire above, and tweets from the ground below. We'll update as we learn more.
I wonder how many dish deep pizzas were harmed during the fire at #4knots?
— Monica B. (@MsMonicaaa) July 14, 2012
Hospitality before they had to stop their set because THE PIER CAUGHT ON FIRE.@ South Street Seaport instagr.am/p/NEvit4Gmt8/
— Nick (@robotsrthebest) July 14, 2012
Interesting. The pier is literally on fire at the 4knots festival. Bands have paused in case we need to evacuate.
— Kellie Rados (@kelrad) July 14, 2012
Fire at south st seaport, hordes being funneled out while band at #4knots festival plays on twitter.com/alexmiz/status…
— Alex Mizrahi (@alexmiz) July 14, 2012
Fire at south street seaport... I guess going to Beekman Beer garden just wasn't in the cards...
— Ashley Kellam (@AKtually_Ashley) July 14, 2012
Update: Firefighters were able to put the blaze out relatively quickly, but the large clouds of smoke remained in the air for quite a while. The 4Knots Festival was only delayed for about 15 minutes before resuming.