East Village (NY) Explosion

[ursus arctos]

A building on 2d Avenue near East 7th Street exploded a few minutes ago



A huge plume of black smoke is clearly visible from my office window and there are unconfirmed reports of dozens of people being trapped.

[ursus arctos]

East Village (NY) Explosion

Now a four alarm fire

[San Bernardhinault]

East Village (NY) Explosion

Crap. Just seen one report about a "possible building collape". Hope everyone's OK.

[ursus arctos]

East Village (NY) Explosion



I've eaten in Pommes Frites a "Belgian" friterie on the ground floor of the buiding on the right.

From Google Street View, the ground floor space in the building that exploded appears to have been vacant.

The immediate suspicion in cases like these is a gas leak.

[Hugh Fatbastard]

East Village (NY) Explosion

that looks to be all residential above the ground floor - would that be correct ?

Any idea how old the building is ?

it'll be difficult to prevent the fire from spreading.

[E10 Rifle]

East Village (NY) Explosion

Is that near Smith's, where I had the most filling and one of the heartiest breakfasts I've ever had. (My sister used to live 10 blocks or so north of there on second ave before moving uptown)?

Grim anyway, best wishes to all affected

[ursus arctos]

East Village (NY) Explosion

E10, The Smith is on 3rd Avenue at 11th, so the fire is four blocks south and one block east. They definitely would have heard the explosion and are dealing with the smoke.

FWIW, the former site of CBGB's is almost the exact same distance south of the explosion (and the same distance west).

Hugh, yes the building is likely to be residential at least from the 3d floor and up (the second floor may have been used by whatever was in the ground floor). It would have been built around 1900. The area has been gentrifying significantly over the last decade or so.

They will have evacuated both the buildings to the north and south of the two that are on fire, each of which has significantly more units/tenants.

[Hugh Fatbastard]

East Village (NY) Explosion

judging from the top photo there's not much in the way of an alley behind the building either.

Hopefully there's no wind to speak of.

[ursus arctos]

East Village (NY) Explosion

Luckily it isn't windy.

There is a relatively small courtyard behind the buildings that may serve as a firebreak. The real danger is to the adjacent buildings along Second Avenue.

If anyone wants to look at the area on Google Maps, etc, the address is 123 Second Avenue

[ursus arctos]

East Village (NY) Explosion

Aerial view. There seems to be some involvement of the adjacent buildings

[Hugh Fatbastard]

East Village (NY) Explosion

actually I guess you can see wind direction (or lack of) in the photos. The smoke is just about going straight up.

[ursus arctos]

East Village (NY) Explosion

We actually have fog and low clouds right now, and the smoke is spreading slowly to the west.

[ursus arctos]

East Village (NY) Explosion

The Pommes Frites building has now collapsed completely



Initial reports of at least a dozen injured. Hopefully, everyone got out before the fires got horrible. The timing may also be fortunate, as many tenants are likely to be at work.

[caja-dglh]

East Village (NY) Explosion

Thought the Street view looked more like it was some sushi place with the standard East Village '50% off all rolls' bargain no one ever wants to see when buying raw fish.

At least it doesn't look like it will reach my beloved Burp Castle.

[caja-dglh]

East Village (NY) Explosion

I'd imagine some of the people hurt would be in Pommes Frites as that place was phenomenally popular.

[ursus arctos]

East Village (NY) Explosion

You're right.

There previously had been an older Street View from 2011 that has the ground floor vacant, but the newer one from fall 2014 has the ubiquitous orange plastic lanterns.

[ursus arctos]

East Village (NY) Explosion

Yelpers be Yelping

EDIT: JUST READ THAT THIS PLACE BURNED DOWN IN THE FIRE I am offically crying. Hope everyone in the area made it out safely :/

[Incandenza]

East Village (NY) Explosion

To prove that people are horrible, there have been articles and tweets arguing about which new live-video streaming app, Periscope or Meerkat, are better based upon how people are broadcasting their views of the building fire.

[ursus arctos]

East Village (NY) Explosion

12 injuries, 4 critical; all residents accounted for.

Some reports that the other building has now collapsed.

Mayor confirms both buildings down and that cause appears to have been a gas leak.

[caja-dglh]

East Village (NY) Explosion

Seems like a guy who was having lunch at one of the restaurants is missing.

The gas story is dreadful. The place was inspected earlier in the day for work being done and marked off not ready for use / not approved. A few hours later the whole place blows up.

[ursus arctos]

East Village (NY) Explosion

A third building has collapsed.

There are at least 19 people injured, three of whom remain in critical condition.

Two people are reported to be missing, a busboy at the restaurant on the ground floor and a young man who had just finished eating there.

As the buildings are still smoldering, the firefighters have not yet been able to search the rubble.

[blameless]

East Village (NY) Explosion

The NY Times has an informative image of what was where, what's still standing and what has collapsed:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/03/26/nyregion/the-four-buildings-affected-by-explosion-in-the-east-village.html

[caja-dglh]

East Village (NY) Explosion

It is weird for me. I lived on East 7th for about 3 years and saw those places nearly every day. The East Village, sadly, is always at serious risk of this due to aging, cheaply built buildings typically with commercial food interests at street level.

[Renart]

East Village (NY) Explosion

That's next door to B&H Dairy, right? I eat there every time I visit NYC. (Try the spinach blintzes.)

I lived for years in an old tenement building in Williamsburg and always feared collapse or something like this.

[ursus arctos]

East Village (NY) Explosion

Yes, B&H is at 127

Two bodies have now been found. Presumably those of the diner and the busboy