[Photo this afternoon by James & Karla Murray]
Coverage from Gothamist:
FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said the call about the explosion came in at 3:17 p.m., and the FDNY had a three minute response time. "They were not expecting this scene," he said. "The first 15 minutes [firefighters] made extremely dangerous searches of these buildings." He said that 119 is a fully-involved fire, and still in danger of possible collapse.
"We will be here for a very long night," Nigro added.
#FDNY units arrived on-scene in East Village less than 3 minutes after receiving the call. pic.twitter.com/VCWHUuYq8s
— FDNY (@FDNY) March 26, 2015
It doesn't look good for the workers or company that was doing the work. There's been no reporting on their whereabouts . . .
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the updates. This fine EV grieve blog is the first place I check for local news.
ReplyDeleteThe interesting thing is that when you look on the Dept. of Buildings website there were no permits pulled at any of these buildings for "gas" work.
ReplyDeleteInitial reports said that workers were doing work on gas pipes, and they had left the building around 12:30-1 PM, and people smelled gas after that. fwiw.
ReplyDeleteAccording to a Con Ed's president (via DNAinfo.com):
ReplyDelete"Con Edison inspectors were at the building at 2 p.m. Thursday to check on a meter installation, the utility's president Craig Ivey said during the press conference. The unit did not pass inspection and gas was not turned on to the meter, he said."
So if the gas was not turned on, where did it come from?
Daily News is reporting this Gas leak blast in NYC's East Village: 2 in critical condition, a dozen others hurt as blaze tears through sushi restaurant, causes building to collapse; Con Ed inspectors gave owner of building failing grade on gas pipe installation
ReplyDeleteSo for those who always take the owners side on anything looks like they were warned by Con Ed.
This is horrible. It was basically caused by the hands of someone else, while unintentional, it still caused havoc and turmoil. Those who are responsible should come forward. Immediately.
ReplyDeleteThe responsibility ultimately lies with Con Ed. If something didn't pass inspection and had to do with a "main" going into the building, Con Ed should have shut off service to the individual building "at the street", which they definitely can do, and then there's no gas going into any part of the building.
ReplyDelete