Photo by D.
A major fire broke out on the fifth floor of a building at 83rd Street and Columbus Avenue on Friday around noon.
One hundred firefighters were on scene and no injuries had been reported as of 12:40 p.m. The fire was called in at 11:52 a.m., according to an FDNY spokesperson.
“Columbus is closed from 82 to at least 84, and only one lane open from 81-82,” wrote Jonathan Cristol, who was across the Street.
At least a dozen fire trucks sped to the scene, deploying four ladders. Photo By Jonathan Cristol.
NYPD instructed people to stay away from the area.
#HappeningNow Please avoid West 83rd St & Columbus Ave due to FD Activity. #uws pic.twitter.com/EPZJVZP5eD
— NYPD 20th Precinct (@NYPD20Pct) January 11, 2019
Photo courtesy of Lisa Kava.
We will update this as we learn more.
NYC have a working Fire Department. NYC has a working Police Department. NYC has a working Sanitation Department. None are perfect. All deserve gratitude. Then we have the Federal Government, which has kinda stopped for no good reason. Neither Government nor journalists are the enemy. Ignorance, greed, corruption and citizen complacency are. If you can, SPEAK UP! ACT UP!
Wasn’t that building a recent home to a multi-state drug ring?
B, you are correct. Good memory. Something is not adding up here. We’ll have to see what the investigators conclude.
The drug ring was actually in 472 – technically a different building. A woman who had lived there for ages died and her son moved in and immediately started running a drug ring…
I WAS THRRE
!) You were “THRRE”???
Oh, so you were Three! That explains why no-proofreading!
2) So “You were “THRRE”? And so ….???…..?????
Write a 5-paragraph story and have it done before evening
The two school buildings in the immediate vicinity were evacuated.
I don’t know where the elementary school students were sent. If anyone knows that fact could you add that information.
Great work by the fire dept
This is also the building that housed one of the biggest drug operations of the past few years. What’s the deal with the owner?
I somehow missed the drug ring – where did you guys hear about that? (In this environment I suppose I should say I am actually asking, not sarcastically asking you to prove your assertions – I just somehow totally missed that.)
A guy moved into his mom’s apartment when she died and used it as his base for a drug ring. I lived in the building at the time. Truthfully everyone thought he was a nice guy just taking care of his mom’s things. And he always brought in packages for people and stuff…so everyone was pretty surprised.
Technically that’s not the same building as the fire structurally. My friend still lives there and the fire department only evacuated them as a precaution, they were back in their apt by early afternoon. The fire was 100 W 83rd supposedly started by a construction worker who sat down a hot tool on the roof.
https://www.westsiderag.com/2018/04/05/upper-west-side-apartment-was-center-of-multi-state-drug-ring-police-say
Where did you get the information on how the apartment fire was started? I live in the building and would like to know.
Re: ” out with the old in with the new.”
Hopefully that will apply to the current occupant of The White House! 🐷
It’s Mueller-Time !!
Everybody knows that some drug building it’s been for years!!!!! Take it down !!!!
If someone is selling drugs in your building then you say it is OK to tear down your building? You’re really funny.
Couldn’t have been too major since I stopped at the bodega on the 13th and didn’t even know there had been a fire. Scaffolding has been up for a while so some repairs might have been going on and caused fire. appears to be top floor and roof where the fire began.