Roaring blaze rips through Chinatown six-story building, slightly injuring 10; ‘Luckily everybody got out’

Ellen Moynihan, Emma Seiwell, New York Daily News
Updated ·2 min read

A roaring fire ripped through a building in Chinatown Friday afternoon, injuring 10 people — mostly firefighters — before it was finally brought under control, the Fire Department said.

Eight firefighters and two other people hurt in the blaze suffered minor injuries, officials said.

The blaze erupted about 2:30 p.m. inside a souvenir shop on the ground floor of a mostly residential building on Mott St. near Bayard St. FDNY Assistant Chief Thomas Currao called the fire “very, very challenging.”

A sixth-floor resident said she smelled smoke as she headed out of her apartment when the blaze broke out.

“I also smelled a little bit of fire like someone is cooking something,” said the woman, who gave her name as Jeanne. “I grabbed my handbag, grabbed my phone. I went out and I couldn’t see anything. I brought a flashlight because I was afraid I would fall.”

When firefighters arrived, they found “heavy fire conditions,” said Currao. “They had fire racing up the front of the building.”

The fire quickly spread to the upper floors of the six-story building, which contains 21 apartments and a Chinese cultural association, officials said.

“I was sleeping,” said a 24-year-old resident who only wanted to be identified as Tiffany.

The woman, who lives on the third floor, said she awoke from her slumber when firefighters banged on her door. Firefighters guided her through the thick black smoke that entirely obscured her vision in the hallways, she said.

“Luckily everybody got out,” said William Su, Vice President of the Ling Sin Association, which has occupied the second floor of the building for 130 years.

Su said he was at his office a couple blocks away when he received a call from someone who saw a social media post about the fire.

“The first thing, I called the secretary of our association and he’s on the street,” Su said. “Everybody’s safe.”

Fire marshals were still investigating what sparked the fire.

Charred piles of destroyed ‘I love New York’ shirts and mugs were strewn inside the souvenir shop.

Approximately 140 firefighters responded to the scene, and the flames were under control by 4:33 p.m, officials said.

“It was really for the efforts of the firefighters that came in quickly — quickly stretched lines, quickly got into the building — that mitigated any loss of life,” Currao said.