FDNY Failure to Fully Extinguish Warehouse Fire Blamed for 5-Day Inferno
WILLIAMSBURG — Firefighters failed to fully extinguish an early morning waterfront warehouse fire in 2015, allowing remaining embers to spark a second blaze that burned for five days and destroyed the building and much of its contents, reports obtained by DNAinfo New York show.
The first fire broke out on Jan. 31, 2015 at the CitiStorage warehouse at 5 N. 11th St. at 4:29 a.m. and was traced back to a "lighting fixture," according to the FDNY incident report. That fire was ruled accidental, according to a FDNY spokeswoman.
But the second fire that raged into an inferno that burned for nearly a week, consuming the whole facility and the records within, began at 6:28 a.m. that day, sparked by a "brand," according to the report.
Brands are embers or sparks left over from earlier fires, said Jim Bolluck, retired FDNY chief who now runs his own fire safety consulting firm.
"Embers are being lifted up into the air by the heat of the fire," he said, though he would not go into greater detail.
The FDNY officials were unclear about the connection between the two fires.
"There's a possibility that they were [related] and there's a very strong possibility that they weren’t," said Elisheva Zakeim, a spokeswoman for the FDNY, adding that the second fire started around 15 feet away and 20 feet higher than the source of the first one. "Like I said we extinguished the first fire."
Zakeim first said that investigators were still preparing a more thorough report, even though marshals had indicated the case was closed on Jan. 8. She later said that no further report was being worked on by investigators.
While the FDNY maintains that both fires were accidental, Recall Holdings, one of the tenants of the buildings, blamed the fire department for not properly dousing the first fire and for shutting off the sprinkler system allowing the flames to spread, according to a $50 million lawsuit filed against the city on Jan. 29, the Brooklyn Paper first reported.
And for some community residents who've been waiting for a year for answers from the FDNY, the two-page document released recently, was met with frustration.
"It's something you could have written a day after the fire," said Greenpoint resident Scott Fraser, a neighborhood activist who's been lobbying for a park the city promised to the community at the scorched site of the CitiStorage facility and pushing for more information about the fire. "It's so lean in terms of what's there, we're left trying to read the tea leaves."
For days, neighbors breathed in billowing clouds of smoke, dozens of firefighters lives were on the line protecting residents all too familiar with suspicious fires along the waterfront, Fraser said, all reasons why the community deserves more facts from the FDNY.
"That's one of the largest fires since 9/11 and it just happens to [be] on land that was rezoned [in 2005]," said Fraser. "It just makes you wonder...We deserve at least an explanation."
Other community members also vowed to push for more information from the city agency.
"We need more detail," said Steve Chesler, another neighborhood activist. He wondered whether it was a lack of proper maintenance at the facility, or fire department procedures that caused the blaze to re-ignite and cause such a prolonged five-day fire.
"Those matters should be attended to and dealt with," he said. "The public has a right to know."
'You Never Did Anything for Me,' Says Man Who Attacks His Own Grandma: NYPD
WILLIAMSBURG — A man attacked his elderly grandmother who was visiting from South Carolina, striking her on the face with an object that cut her forehead and sent her tumbling to the ground, police and prosecutors said.
"You never did anything for me," 36-year-old Anthony Caines yelled before the Jan. 31 attack that took place inside an apartment on Wythe Ave., police said.
He then proceeded to whip his grandmother across the forehead with some kind of an object that left a gash on her forehead, according to prosecutors.
The 78-year-old woman tumbled to the ground and was later rushed to Woodhull Hospital where she needed stitches and was treated for pain in other parts of her body from the fall, according to prosecutors.
Caines, who has a pending assault charge stemming from a late night brawl that took place in December at Metropolitan and Bedford avenues, was arrested Monday for the most recent attack.
Prosecutors charged him with assault and menacing charges, records show. He is being held at Rikers, court records show. He's due back in court on Feb. 5.
Super Bowl 50 in New York City: Broncos vs. Panthers Watch Guide
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This weekend's big game is set for a classic quarterback duel.
Super Bowl 50 will take place at Levi’s Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area on Feb. 7 with Peyton Manning's Denver Broncos taking on the dynamic Cam Newtown and his Carolina Panthers.
It’s been two years since New York City hosted the event, but there will still be plenty to do in the Big Apple on game day.
If you're looking for parties:
► Sweetwater Social in NoHo is showing the game on four TVs and one projector with a game-time open bar for $125. The deal also includes carving stations with a whole-roasted pig, turkey and prime rib. You can check out more details on its website.
► Treadwell Park on First Avenue in the Upper East Side has some good options for large groups. For $45 per person you can reserve a table for eight, which includes open beer bar from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., 80 wings, 25 sliders and 32 pigs in a blanket and a bowl of guacamole and chips. You can reserve a table here.
► Croxely's Ale House in Williamsburg will be showing the game on all its flatscreens, which surround the bar and seating area. The cover is $10 per person and Croxley's will be serving 20 cent boneless wings and 30 cent classic wings during the game. You can check out all the details and its expansive beer list on its website.
If you want team-themed food and drinks:
► Gowanus' Ample Hills Creamery is shipping out a "Super Bowl 4-Pack" including two pints of two Super Bowl flavors: Rocky Mountain High for the Denver Broncos (a chocolate ice cream with mini marshmallows, peanut-stuffed brownies, and a touch of Colorado's Left Hand Brewing Company Nitro Milk Stout), and Jes' Pie for the Carolina Panthers (a classic Southern chocolate chess pie folded into vanilla ice cream).
► You can buy five-bottle buckets of Oskar Blues beer, brewed in Colorado and North Carolina, at the Crown Heights beer hall Berg'n for $20 on game day.
► The Super Bowl party at Syndicated, a restaurant/bar/independent movie theater that opened last month in Bushwick, will feature cocktails inspired by the teams and created by bar manager Kenneth Vanhooser: there's the "Ice Pick" for the Panthers (a mix of sweetened iced tea, Tito’s Vodka, and fresh lemon juice), and the "Colorado Bulldog" for the Broncos (Tito’s Vodka, Kahlua and a splash of cream, topped off with Coca-Cola).
► When you watch the game on Nitehawk Cinema's big theater screen, you can drink in allegiance to your team: Panthers fans should order the $7 Catdaddy Spiced Moonshine, a spirit bottled in North Carolina, Broncos supporters can enjoy $6 12-ounce cans of Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale, brewed in Colorado.
If you're staying home with friends:
► Check out our guide to making the perfect beer run.
► Test out this recipe for a creative take on traditional buffalo wings.
► Wow your friends with smoky chipotle quesadillas.
And if you're desperate to avoid the whole hullabaloo around grown men giving each other concussions for no good reason, you can get some relaxation at Spa Castle’s Midtown location.
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