Breaking: Catastrophic Fire in Manhattan

At about 3:30 pm (EST) an explosion and a fire led to a building collapse in the East Village at Second Avenue and St Mark's Place. All of us who know that area know how very crowded it is with tons of stores at street level in mixed use buildings, with residential apartments in the upper floors, and pedestrians galore.

A powerful explosion in the East Village caused one building to collapse and ignited a large fire in a neighboring building on Thursday afternoon, leaving at least a dozen people injured, at least three critically.

Francis X. Gribbon, the chief spokesman for the New York Fire Department, said the preliminary indication was that some kind of gas explosion preceded the inferno.

“It was probably a gas thing, it looks like,” he said. “But that’s not confirmed

The fire seemed to build in intensity after neighbors heard what they described as a loud boom. “We’ve got two buildings, fully involved with fire,” said James Long, a spokesman for the Fire Department.

With flames rising from the top of the brownstones, firefighters battled the blaze and raced to keep it from spreading.

The reported address for the building, at Second Avenue and Seventh Street, is that of a Japanese restaurant. Reuters reported the five-story building housed 26 apartments and was built in 1900.

People in the area described hearing and feeling an explosion about 3.15pm ET. Local television stations reported 145 firefighters were at the scene of what was already a four-alarm fire.

Police had erected a cordon at Fifth Street along Second Avenue and extending up about 10 blocks, and there were dozens of emergency vehicles at the scene along with at least one NYPD helicopter. A Guardian reporter saw thick, yellow and white smoke was rising rapidly from the top of the building.

The Mayor is in the area--there will be a news conference in an hour or so.

NY1 reports that 2 buildings have collapsed; the area on Second Avenue from 14th street to Houston Street has been closed to all traffic.

This collapse is like the gas leak explosion that occurred almost a year ago in East Harlem.