A late-day look at the fire-damaged 131 Avenue A

Photos by Steven

A fire broke out early this morning at 131 Avenue A on the NW corner of St. Mark's Place. 

According to ABC 7, five residents sustained minor injuries while vacating the six-floor building. 

Starbucks was open today for business in the retail spaces, while TabeTomo next door told us that they suffered “substantial damage.”

Next door, Bad Habit hope to be back open tomorrow...

As for the rest of the building, there is a Partial Vacate Order limited to two residences. 

Per the Department of Buildings: 

FIRE HAS CAUSED EXTENSIVE WATER, SMOKE AND FIRE DAMAGE IN APT#1, ALSO FIREFIGHTER OPERATIONS IN APT#7. WINDOWS AND WALLS HAVE BEEN REMOVED LEAVING STRUCTURES OPEN TO THE ELEMENTS. THESE POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS HAVE THEREFORE RENDERED UNSAFE TO OCCUPY. VACATE APT #1 AND 7. EGRESS WAS NOT COMPROMISED. 

Firefighters recovered a lithium-ion battery from a unit, per ABC 7, though fire officials haven't stated that was officially the cause. Another resident mentioned talk of an "electric scooter explosion."

[Updated] Report of a fire at 133 E. 7th St.; Yuca Bar remains closed

[Photo by Shawn Chittle]

There were reports of a fire at 133 E. Seventh St. at Avenue A just before 6 this evening...


[SC]


[Mark Cyr]


[MC]

The FDNY was on it quickly...


[Photo by Perri Silver]


[Reader submitted]


[Reader submitted]


[Photo by Vinny & O]


[V&O]

About 30 minutes after the initial report, the fire was under control, per the FDNY...

MAN ALL HANDS 133 E 7 ST, MULTIPLE DWELLING FIRE ON 2ND FLR, UNDER CONTROL

— FDNY (@FDNY) March 6, 2016

Updated 7:35

The FDNY remains on the scene... Yuca Bar is closed... there's broken glass all over the sidewalk... Avenue A is closed off at St Mark's Place and East Sixth Street... and there's no through traffic on East Seventh Street...





As of this moment, there isn't any information on the cause or extent of the damage...

Updated 9:49 p.m.

Word from the scene is that a candle in an apartment started the fire. There weren't any reports of injuries.

Updated 7:30 a.m.

Here's a look at the East Seventh Street side of the building... firefighters needed to break the windows on the upper floors ...



Updated 4:50 p.m.

Ground-floor tenant Yuca Bar is closed tonight...



The dining room is also empty at the moment. It appears that the restaurant sustained some damages too...



Updated 6:15 p.m.


[Photo this evening by Steven]

Conspiracies: What next for 14th Street and Avenue A?

It didn't take long for the conspiracy theorists to say what IF yesterday's fire turns out to be suspicious ... after all, 14th Street and Avenue A is prime real estate ... and many of the storefronts along this stretch of single-level businesses have been for rent for months and months...

As I noted last summer: "This area on 14th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B is ripe for development. So when when the 'space available' signs went up last summer (2008)...Hello Marc Jacobs! Hello huge Chase branch!'"



Well... according to the Post, the fire started at Pete's-a-Pizza, where a welder was working on a fire-access door. There, his welding torch apparently set some grease on fire. And that was it.

Anyway, Rainbow took over a big space here last July.




The area here also falls outside the East Village/Lower East Side Rezoning ... Noted one reader, "a nice fat dorm here would solve NYU's missing square footage."

Anyway, I'm not suggesting that anything happened here aside from a terrible, accidental fire that destroyed four local businesses... but, it is something to think about... and we've been around long enough to see the unthinkable happen... luxury hotels on the Bowery? An NYU dorm popping up at the site of a venerable pool hall/concert venue//club?

Meanwhile, I've been told that the owners of Stuyvesant Grocery do have insurance. No word just yet on what their plans are. I meant to add that I hope all the businesses will be able to rebuild and reopen here.

Police officer injured looking for intruder on St. Mark's Place

Bob Arihood shared this report ... as well as the photos... Around 3:30 yesterday afternoon, a resident in an apartment on Seventh Street noticed a man on the fire escape at 126 St Mark's Place building across the backyard. The man broke the window of an upper floor apartment and entered. The Seventh Street resident called the police.



Several NYPD units, including the 9th Precinct commander Deputy Inspector Lehr, arrived on Seventh Street, St Mark's Place and in Tompkins Square Park in response to the call. Officers went to the apartment that had been broken into and also up to the roof above the apartment.

"One investigating officer exited the apartment onto the fire escape and , we were told , slipped on some broken glass and fell through the opening in the fire escape down the fire escape stairs from the 5th floor to the 4th floor . Luckily the officer was able to stop his free fall descent part way down the fire escape stairs ."

Bob said that the officer, far left in glasses, did not appear to be seriously injured beyond some scrapes, cuts and perhaps some bruises, though he was taken to a hospital in an ambulance.



The man who broke into the apartment was gone before the police arrived on the scene.

The remaining structure of the fire-damaged Middle Collegiate Church will be demolished

The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) voted this week to allow the demolition of the remains of the fire-damaged Middle Collegiate Church at 112 Second Ave. between Sixth Street and Seventh Street. 

Church leaders made the announcement via Twitter...

INCREDIBLE NEWS! The NYC Landmarks Commission has voted to allow @middlechurch to remove the burnt remains of our facade, so we can rebuild on our historic site.

Truly, God is good. Out of this fire, fierce love is rising.

Make a gift to help us rise: https://t.co/Vkt9D5e9V0

— Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis (@RevJacquiLewis) January 11, 2023

LPC members voted 8-2 in favor of the demolition. 

As previously reported, church leaders said they must remove what remains on the property within the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District. According to a report commissioned by church leaders, the culmination of an 18-month review, there is too much damage to the existing structure to integrate it into Middle Collegiate's new home, that it wouldn't withstand a full-scale rebuild on the property.

In a November interview with EVG, Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, senior minister at the Middle Collegiate Church, said they spent $4 million to reinforce, stabilize and weatherproof the façade in the months after the devastating December 2020 fire.

She said that despite these efforts, the façade has deteriorated over time. And then, their engineering report showed that it would be best to remove what was left before building a new church. 

"It felt like something died," Lewis said of hearing this news. "The building burning felt like a death — a big death. This makes me feel heartbroken. It feels like a second loss. But if we let it go, we could get back on site, get back in the space and build something."

Preservation groups, including Village Preservation, had urged the LPC not to grant permission for demolition until further studies could occur. According to Village Preservation: "We don’t believe there is sufficient documentation that alternatives to preserve the historic façade have been fully explored, nor that there is sufficient evidence at this time to justify the permanent and irreversible removal."

Lewis previously stated that she understood the opposition. 

"We relive the fire daily and try to think about what to do with it. It's that kind of grief that just keeps coming in waves," Lewis said. "At some point, two years in, I want to be able to say to my community: We did the very best we could with this. This is not a willy-nilly, hurry-up decision. The engineer says we can't keep it, and we're heartbroken."

No word just yet on the timing of the demolition. 

Meanwhile, Middle Collegiate leaders continue fundraising efforts to rebuild a new church here in the East Village. They are holding services from their temporary home — East End Temple, 245 E. 17th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

EVG photo from May 2022.

Another reader report of a fireworks-related roof fire on Avenue C

The FDNY responded to a report of a fire last night around 9:45 on the southwest corner of Fifth Street and Avenue C... a nearby resident shared these photos...



The cause of the fire is unknown, though the resident suspects it was related to the ongoing illegal firework displays nearby... the reader points out the remains of fireworks in the lights of the fire truck in the photo below...



There wasn't any word of damage to the building, which houses 69 Avenue C Laundromat...



Last Saturday night, people setting off fireworks along Avenue C and neighboring buildings caused a fire on a building rooftop on Fourth Street.

Fireworks-related complaints to 311 and 911 topped 20,000 in 2020, "an unprecedented increase over previous years," Gothamist reported.

The NYPD has started making arrests...

These fireworks won't be set off in your neighborhood thanks to the Intelligence Bureau. Their precise work has led to several arrests and the confiscation of these fireworks.

Not only is this a quality of life issue, fireworks are illegal. pic.twitter.com/iaJpDEA6DC

— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) June 26, 2020

Aerial views of the Essex-Houston Street fire

EV Grieve reader Chris sends along more photos from the street/sewer/manhole/whatever fire currently burning on Essex at Houston...

Even the workers are impressed with the fire... this fellow is either taking photos or texting — or both!

Per Chris: "Fire department seems to be mostly just watching" for the time being...

Update: As of 2:11 or so, Chris notes that the fire is out.

Marking the 113th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire

Today marks the 113th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.

As in past years, volunteers have participated in the chalking project (organized by Street Pictures), writing the names and ages of the victims — mostly young women —  in front of the buildings where they lived on the Lower East Side.

The reader photos are from St. Mark's Place (above) and 11th Street...

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the largest industrial disaster in U.S. history ... causing the death of 146 garment workers who either died from the fire or by jumping from the factory windows.

The Triangle Waist Company was located on the northwest corner of Greene Street and Washington Place, just east of Washington Square Park. The Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition website has more details on the tragedy and its legacy.

[Updated] Early-morning car fire on East 9th Street

A reader reports that there was a three-car fire last night next to the former P.S. 64 on East Ninth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C. The reader puts the time of the fire at 1:24 a.m. The FDNY had the fire extinguished by 1:45 a.m., according to the reader.

And via Twitter...

pic of the initial car on fire, doesn't do the scene justice. 12 firefighters on the scene at 9th and b. twitter.com/drelly/status/…

— lauren drell (@drelly) April 6, 2013

And another video...

Follow-up about the fire this morning on St. Mark's Place

Around 7 this morning, we took some blurry photos of the FDNY responding to a report of a fire on St. Mark's Place... (we sent them out via Twitter here ... and here...)

Anyway, DNAinfo reported that "The fire sparked about 6:45 a.m. on the first floor of 17 St. Marks Place, FDNY officials said. Fire officials said an unidentified woman suffered a minor injury. She was taken to New York Hospital."

An NYU student who lives in the building got a look inside the fire-damaged apartment and noted, "everything was gone."

Report of a late-night fire at 145 Second Ave.

[Photo via Bonnie DeWitt]

A fire apparently broke out in the basement of 145 Second Ave. at East Ninth Street some time around 1 a.m., according to various social media reports. Starbucks occupies the corner storefront space.

MAN ALL HANDS 145 2 AVE, MULTIPLE DWELLING FIRE IN BASEMENT,

— FDNY (@FDNY) March 19, 2014

The FDNY gave the all clear within 30 minutes.

MAN ALL HANDS 145 2 AVE, MULTIPLE DWELLING FIRE IN BASEMENT, UNDER CONTROL

— FDNY (@FDNY) March 19, 2014

[Photo via EVG reader Josh]


[Photo via EVG reader Josh]


[Photo via @Phillyupperdecker]

… and the scene from a little east on Ninth Street…


[Photo via @copyrapper]

There's also video, via Josh…



There's no word on injuries, cause or extent of the damage yet. In any event, it made for a nice photo opp!

People are actually taking selfies with a fire while people could have lost their homes or lives. Unreal. @evgrieve pic.twitter.com/5Ux75RqOeU

— Eric Nolan (@ericnolan_) March 19, 2014

Updated 7:45 a.m.
Starbucks is open for business this morning.

Tenant-owner dispute on Seventh Street results in fire, dead dog, possible civil lawsuit

The Post has this story today. A couple who live on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue were out in January celebrating a legal victory against their landlord, Steven Croman, of Croman Realty. When they returned home, someone had broken into their ground-floor apartment and started a fire in their closet. (We wrote about the fire here.)

Their Labradoodle named Foster died eight days later as a result from the fire, the Post reports. (The couple had been asking Croman to to padlock two doors that led to their backyard.)

Police later arrested a 22-year-old "career criminal" for the burglary and arson. Police didn't find any connection between the man arrested and Croman. Meanwhile, the couple are considering filing a civil lawsuit against Croman Realty. They have since moved and have a new dog.

Read the whole story here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Fire on Seventh Street

Report of a fire at 313 E. 6th St.

The FDNY battled a two-alarm fire overnight on the top floor of 313 E. Sixth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. Two people, a resident and a firefighter, reportedly (via Citizen), sustained minor injuries 

The FDNY first reported the fire at 2:03 a.m. ... with the "under control" coming nearly 90 minutes later...

Manhattan 2-Alarm Box 0437, 313 E 6 ST, MULTIPLE DWELLING A

— FDNYalerts (@FDNYAlerts) August 17, 2022

Manhattan 2-Alarm Box 0437, 313 E 6 ST, MULTIPLE DWELLING A, COCKLOFT , Under Control

— FDNYalerts (@FDNYAlerts) August 17, 2022

Neighbors reported seeing flames coming from the roof of No. 313 (reader photo below). The FDNY said the fire started in the cockloft.

No word on the cause of the fire. 

This morning, boards covered windows on the third and fourth floor of the circa-1900 building, which has three residential units.

Updated: Report of a fire at 86 E. 10th St.

Fairly big fire on corner of 10th and 4th - a lot of firefighters and EMTs at the scene. pic.twitter.com/QfaGIzZW7a

— Will Tooke (@willtooketv) February 7, 2017

The FDNY responded to a report of a fire this afternoon at 86 E. 10th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

A department spokesperson told Patch there were "two reported injuries being evaluated on the scene."

The fire reportedly started on the third or fourth floor of the building, which houses the bar Black & White on the ground level. (2/10 — Black & White remains closed.)

There isn't any info at the moment about the cause of the fire or extent of the damage.

pic.twitter.com/lCuZkaObNz

— im lilakatz (@iguesslila) February 7, 2017

Updated 3:30 p.m.

These shots are via eventphotosnyc ...