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…
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
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.”
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.
Santa — since when is blaming the arsonist for the fire he started scapegoating?
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
DH – the law-breaking kind.
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?
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.
Damn hipster douchebags setting off fireworks on the 4th of july – what kind of assholes set of fireworks on the 4th of july!?!?!?
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.