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Fire Is Second Incident At 45 White Street
A fire broke out in the basement of 45 White Street, a newly converted 18-unit rental building, just before noon on Tuesday, May 20, drawing a quick response from nine firefighting units. “I smelled smoke, but the fire alarms didn’t go off,” said Lana Kim, who was staying in her boyfriend’s third-floor apartment. “When I called the management company [E.J. Realty], they said there was a fire but it was under control. Then the Fire Department came and I decided to leave.” Deputy Chief Paul Cresci said the fire spread from the basement up through the first-floor wall. Four firefighters suffered minor injuries in the incident. Cresci said the precise cause of the blaze remains under investigation, but one man who was in the building when the fire started said it was caused by welding in the basement. Yitz Weiss was installing sprinkler systems on the second floor when he smelled smoke. “I went down to the basement, where welders were installing diamond plate for the sidewalk,” Weiss said. “One of the sparks from the welding must have shot away, because when I went down there one of the metal beams was on fire, red hot.” Upon arrival, firefighters checked all the apartments in the building before isolating the blaze inside a first-floor wall. Using axes, saws and poles, they hacked their way through the wall and the first-floor ceiling, exposing the fire and then drenching it with their hose. A ground-floor apartment and a second-floor apartment were badly damaged. The fire marked the second safety incident at the building in recent months. In March, a man installing windowsills was badly injured when he fell from a ladder onto the sidewalk shed below. In April, the Department of Buildings issued the building violations for elevator safety and work without a permit. Yehuda Braun, the building’s owner, did not return calls for comment. [Home][Back][Search][Contact] The Tribeca Trib · 401 Broadway, 5th Floor · New York, NY · 10013 · 212.219.9709 |
