10-Truck Fire at 101 Lafayette Saturday Night
Sometime in the early evening Saturday night a large fire broke out on the third floor of 101 Lafayette Avenue, the 200-unit prewar co-op building at South Oxford Street in Fort Greene. Or at least the response to the fire was large: Our tipster and night-scene photographer estimated that there were 10 fire trucks and…
Sometime in the early evening Saturday night a large fire broke out on the third floor of 101 Lafayette Avenue, the 200-unit prewar co-op building at South Oxford Street in Fort Greene. Or at least the response to the fire was large: Our tipster and night-scene photographer estimated that there were 10 fire trucks and more than 10 other fire vehicles on the scene. Surveying the damage the next day, it looked like it was contained to one apartment. Did any readers witness it? Anyone know the cause or the extent of the damage? GMAP
I was in the building when the fire broke out, above the fire, but managed to get past it and out. The smoke filling both stairwells was pretty horrifying to witness firsthand, but amazingly, there was barely any smoke visible from outside. I think the fire was sucking air through the window, and all the smoke was going into the building.
FDNY took a hose in through the stairs and fought the fire from the inside. That’s why the glass is destroyed in the apartment windows, it was blown out from the water pressure.
The third floor looked terrible afterward, lots of soot. The smoke completely filled both stairwells at the time, and was so thick that it leaked out and filled the hallways at least three or four flights up. So I think it was a pretty intense fire. And it was raging a good five or ten minutes before FDNY got there. Given all that, it’s actually pretty encouraging that the fire stayed within one apartment… i.e. even serious fires like this seem slow to spread in this building, so I still feel pretty safe.
And for the record, I keep my bicycle in my apartment.
horrifying. people are so unknowing about the buildings in which they live. Almost like children. Every building is only as safe as the stupidest neanderthal who lights incense and leaves or who chains their bicycle to the fire stairs and leaves the door ajar.
Are people in NY suffering from some sort of arressted development? Are adults in the big city not as responsible for their own actions as their peers elsewhere? Is it always somebody else’s job or somebody else’s problem?
Thank goodness everyone is safe!!!!
I was in Manhattan so didn’t even know about this until I saw this today!
Yes, I’ve been in the building visiting friends and yes, people seem to leave the fire stair doorways open. This is completely unacceptable.
And I’m a little horrified to hear people chain bicycles to the railing in the fire stairs! Ugh!
I have a feeling this big wake up call will mean NO ONE will be locking bikes to the railing or leaving the doors open over the next bunch of years!
People need to have safety sense with candles and such! Terrible. We almost lost a friend in Manhattan in an apartment house fire. It was due to a wiring issue and not candles or such.
I’m calling our friends in the building now. Thank you Jonathan for letting us all know about our local news!
i was also in the bldg- thankfully no one was hurt but two kitties sadly died and there were some minor(thank god) issues with smoke inhalation.. the fire damage was only in the one apartment but the third floor is charred and smokey and the bldg still smells bad. it was, according to the firemen, an intense fire and so far there hasn’t been any official cause determined but i’ve also heard incense/candle. the staff has done a good job of fixing things up. 101 is actually a safe building as regards fires but those the fire doors are often left open and that’s why there was so much smoke and poor visability in the halls/stairways,in addition- several tenants feel the need to chain their bikes to the inner stairwell rails. this insane act of stupidity and “it’s all about me and my needs” is not only a violation but could have lead to injuries. it was very scary and could have been a lot worse. let’s put out our good wishes and prayers for our neighbor who lost her home and pets.
I live on the 7th floor of this building and was in teh bldg. when the fire erupted.
We tried to escape when we first heard the fire alarms but the smoke in the hallway and fire stairs was so thick we couldn’t see nor breathe. The only option we had was to wait in our apt and get air by the window. Thankfully, the FDNY arrived pretty quickly and amazingly no one was seriously hurt. It was very scary to experience and I think we are all pretty lucky.
The serious issue to look at is that the fire stairways’ doors are usually left ajar…causing the massive circulation of deadly smoke throughout the building.
Message to all my neighbors (and others in general):
please keep the fire stair doors closed at all times and I’m so glad we all walked away safe and ok!
I thought incense was a victimless crime.
The FDNY came back Sunday to look over the mess. A fireman standing outside told me it was caused by burning incense.
I was in the building during the fire, on the 15th floor (the fire was on 3). Seems that the fire department got it out fairly quickly…within 10 to 15 minutes or so of when I first heard smoke alarms going off. The super told me later that no one was seriously injured. The smoke in the halls and stairwells was pretty awful, though… we made do by keeping our heads out the windows. Was about 45 minutes before it cleared enough to go back in to the hallways. Not sure about damage… the fire was in the unit two floors directly above the entrance, and there was definitely a lot of water leaking down when I left about an hour after the fire.