Wednesday, May 12, 2010

(Updated 12:57) After the fire: No injuries reported



Still no injuries have been reported.

Now from NY1:

Firefighters from about five ladder companies are still working to contain a blaze on East 14th Street near Avenue A. The fire broke out just after 10 a.m. on the roof of a one-story building and became three alarms about an hour later.

At least four businesses including a pizza restaurant, a convenience store, a hair salon and a Jackson Hewitt tax preparation office were damaged in the fire.

No serious injuries were reported.

The owner of the 24-hour convenience store said he smelled smoke and heard commotion next door at Pete's-A-Place pizzeria, where workers were making renovations, and ran over to help put out the fire.

"At first when I smelled the smoke I thought it was a small fire so I could help with that one. I could really stop the fire," said the convenience store owner. "But when we went upstairs, the flames were very, very big, very intense."

There is no word yet on what caused the fire.

Streets in the area of the fire have been temporarily closed.


Photo via Sergey.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much, Grieve and Sergey.

No one else but NY1 was reporting this, not the News, Post, or NYT (and their dumb/depressing EV microblog? I couldn't even FIND at the main site). You are providing an invaluable service to the neighborhood!

EV Grieve said...

Thanks, anon. All the credit goes to Sergey for sending the photos... I was posting as fast as he was sending....

Anonymous said...

Yes, thank you! I am very sorry to see the loss of Pete's-a-Place. We have been ordering their great pizza for years! Glad there were no injuries.

Melanie said...

Glad there are no injuries.
We EV Bloggers and others are cool and concerned and get the message out quick. Thanks Grieve.

Jill said...

Pete's a Place has been open at least since I was in high school, and boy that was a lifetime ago (ha ha). My son and his teenage friends hung out there the same way we did some 75 years ago.

But the worse news is that apparently my reading this blog during business hours has caused my company to start blocking the photos (not the whole site, just the photos). To get to my own blog I have a limited amount of "flex" time. GRIEVEous.

Anonymous said...

Here's another picture http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbilly/4601050995/

glamma said...

jill, i thought that was happening to me the other day, but the following day the pics came back, so who knows. good luck!

Bowery Boogie said...

so this row of one-story retail will be razed?

HippieChick said...

Another NYU dorm going in here?? Oh, and I LOVE Pete's...how sad for everybody...