Brooklyn, NY - Suspicious Warehouse Fire Largest In NYC Since 9/11

Brooklyn, NY - The largest city fire in more than a decade - a raging inferno believed to be intentionally lit - devoured 15 vacant buildings on Brooklyn's waterfront yesterday, sending plumes of black smoke across the city.

Hundreds of firefighters battled the monstrous 10-alarm blaze by land and river for more than 11 hours as rolling flames ravaged the old Greenpoint Terminal Market, billows of acrid smoke could be seen as far as Long Island.

The fire was spotted at 5:40 a.m. and rapidly grew. Nearly eight hours later, with the flames still out of control, fire officials declared a 10-alarm blaze in the complex, which was once the site of shipbuilding and other manufacturing.
The fire swept through 15 buildings over 6 square blocks along the Greenpoint waterfront on West St. Sudden collapses of walls and ceilings sent piles of broken bricks, concrete and wood tumbling into the streets.

The fire was the city's biggest - not including the World Trade Center attacks - since a 19-alarm fire at Brooklyn's St. George Hotel in 1995. The 9/11 attacks were so large that the FDNY quit counting alarms.
More than 400 firefighters were forced to fight yesterday's blaze from the perimeter of the warehouses, using nine tower ladders and five boats in the river, dumping about 6 million gallons of water on the inferno.
Fourteen firefighters suffered minor injuries but no civilians were hurt.

Fire marshals found accelerant poured in five separate spots in the back of the 21-acre site, sources said. Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said the blaze was being probed as arson.
"The buildings were fully involved with fire when the first units arrived," Scoppetta said. "That plus the fact that it started early in the morning are indications of a suspicious fire."