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July 6, 2009

Rosenwach Fire The Morning After

On the night of July 4, Williamsburg got its own pyrotechnics show, only this year it wasn't over the East River—it was at the site of the Rosenwach Wood Tank Company on Wythe Avenue, where a two-alarm fire broke out at around 9 p.m. According to commenters on Gothamist, the blaze started on the company's North 9th Street lot where the company constructs roof-top water tanks. According to two local blogs, a group of twenty-somethings ("white kids in the twenties," according to 11211 or "hipster douchebags," according to NYShitty) were setting off roman candles right next to the lot. In addition to stacks of wood, there was a large pile of sawdust which would have made quite a combo with a stray firework. The photo above shows how the site looked yesterday and the video on the jump shows some live action from the night-of.
Two-Alarm Fire On Wythe Avenue In Williamsburg [Gothamist]
Video: Williamsburg Fire [Flickr] GMAP

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I hope no one's bulding is in need of a new tank. I think there are only two companies left that do these???

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at July 6, 2009 9:05 AM

My friend was spending the 4th on a rooftop on north 9th and berry and said the flames must have been 30 feet hight.

i rode my bike past yesterday and the damage wasn't as bad as you'd think for such an intense fire.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at July 6, 2009 9:30 AM

dingbats. Hope they catch em and deduct the costs from their trust funds.

Posted by: dittoburg at July 6, 2009 9:36 AM

this is what happens when a neighborhood is infested with adult children.

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at July 6, 2009 9:36 AM

not to defend the people who did this, but doesn't it seem dangerous to leave piles of sawdust and other combustible material out in the open? what if lightning struck? or someone threw a cigarette over the fence? i would think that the tank builders were a little negligent here too.

Posted by: Return of Randolph at July 6, 2009 9:47 AM

Damn hipster douchebags setting off fireworks on the 4th of july - what kind of assholes set of fireworks on the 4th of july!?!?!?

Posted by: dirty_hipster at July 6, 2009 10:09 AM

Randolph- You are joking, right? They construct wood tanks by hand. Sawdust is a byproduct. The owner should not have wood in an open area when the entire business is building tanks out of wood? Please. And since when is someone in their twenties a kid?

Look, these jackasses were old enough to comprehend that it was forseeable that a roman candle shot onto someone's private property (house, business, etc) could cause a fire. That's why fireworks are ILLEGAL in NYC. Not to mention that there is a huge sign that says "Wood Tanks", so its not like they didn't know what was behind the fence. I hope that the cops identify who these idiots were, and that both the business owner and the insurance company sue these "kids" and their parents for every dime incurred in losses. This kind of behavior not only affects the business owner, but puts all the families that rely on this business to survive out of work as well.

Posted by: LC Arnett at July 6, 2009 10:21 AM

OK, so now we all have to infiltrate the hipster underground to track down the culprits. Who's with me?! Everyone know how to fake-snort coke?

Posted by: infinitejester at July 6, 2009 10:50 AM

DH - the law-breaking kind.

Posted by: dittoburg at July 6, 2009 10:54 AM

all of this "crucify the hipsters" nonsense is beyond stupid. People were shooting off fireworks everywhere on the 4th. Just because some old jaded douche sees some white 20 year olds shooting them off he assumes it was them. Also roman candles? People were shooting off huge shit over where I live in Prospect Heights.

I guess everyone neeeds a scapegoat

Posted by: Santa at July 6, 2009 11:00 AM

Santa -- since when is blaming the arsonist for the fire he started scapegoating?

Posted by: northsloperenter at July 6, 2009 11:08 AM

Rob, your 9:36, LOVE IT! So true.

And LC, hipster bashing or whatever anyone wants to call it, I agree with you. This was a hugely irresponsible, not to mention criminal, place to be having fun with fireworks. There really are reasons for some of the laws we put in place. Really.

Posted by: Nokilissa at July 6, 2009 11:10 AM

This may be the first crime solved using Facebook and Twitter:

"Dude, my clothes are all ashy and stuff. What a bummer."

"I wanted to hook up with that boy but when he saw I had gunpowder under my nails, he fled."

Posted by: infinitejester at July 6, 2009 11:13 AM

There have been later reports subsequent to that *one unconfirmed* report that say that it was a group of kids, under 20, mixed white and hispanic.

I live in Williamsburg and I see people of all ages and races setting off illegal firecrackers every year. It's too bad people can't focus on substantive issues, like the fact that this fire was literally across the street from a firehouse Bloomberg closed, instead of getting on their hobbyhorse about hipsters.

Posted by: bkkkkklyn at July 6, 2009 11:33 AM

dibs, that's right, there's Rosenwach and Isaacs. I suppose Rosenwach will sell the land to a condo developer and go somewhere in NJ where they don't have to compete with hipsters for land.

Posted by: denton at July 6, 2009 11:43 AM

It appears Williamburg will be the front lines of this generation's fight against the dreaded face of urban blight.

"The problem we're having now is that we're starting to get squatters in these buildings and lots," said Williamsburg neighborhood activist Philip DePaolo, who compared the current-day situation in the neighborhood to the Bronx in the late '70s. "Blight draws crime, and if you have blocks and blocks of vacant lots with no people, that creates a problem."

Posted by: East New York at July 6, 2009 12:08 PM

If you read the NYShitty report, the "hipster" tip came from someone who was on Metropolitan Avenue when the fire broke out. Williamsburg always puts on a good show of amateur fireworks, and this past weekend (even without the draw of fireworks on the East River) was no exception.

Posted by: WBer at July 6, 2009 12:13 PM

LC - I totally agree with your sentiment... but one thing. "sue these "kids" and their parents for every dime incurred in losses."

Why should their parents be involved? I'm 32, should you call my parents if I broke you window?

Posted by: tybur6 at July 6, 2009 12:25 PM

Seeing as Philip DePaolo is like a broken record when it comes to affordable housing he should be thrilled so much squatter-filled free-housing is in the pipeline.

Posted by: dittoburg at July 6, 2009 12:46 PM

I know Phil- we worked together on keeping firehouses open in 2002-3. Fat lot of good it did us. But Williamsburg is not going to be the Bronx. Before the hipsters discovered it was a working class neighborhood, with open lots and not so great areas, as well as streets of small, family owned homes. I used to really love it. We used to sleep outside the firehouse, in front of the house next door so we would know when the FDNY came to take over the house. The neighbors bought us food and drink, blankets.... These are people who have been through a lot of changes. If Robert Moses couldn't knock them out, empty buildings won't either.

Posted by: bxgrl at July 6, 2009 1:18 PM

I suspect insurance fraud and the fireworks story is a cover. I bet the cement company down the road (actually on Kent)had thought of that...too bad cement doesn't burn.

Posted by: Art Salt at July 6, 2009 3:52 PM

People have been shooting off fireworks almost every weekend for the last couple of months in bushwick. Oh -- not hipsters.

Posted by: mopar at July 6, 2009 5:52 PM

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July 6, 2009

Rosenwach Fire The Morning After

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