Tenants are beginning to return to 345 Eldert Street in Bushwick after the city ousted some 150 residents from the building last week, Bushwick BK reported. The building, a legally converted loft building that was approved for residential use in 2003, was partially vacated this past Thursday because of fire code violations, including blocked exits and sprinklers. Residents had initially feared that they would have to completely gut their apartments in order to move back in, but it appears that the city is now working with them to recertify the units for occupancy, and some tenants are already starting to tear out code-violating additions with their help. [more]

Rendering of the Greenpoint EMS

The Fire Department of New York is building an Emergency Medical Service facility to serve the Williamsburg and Greenpoint neighborhoods, Fast Company reported. The agency hired Michielli + Wyetzner, a small Manhattan-based architecture firm, to design a glassy two-story, 10,400-square-foot complex that will house four vehicles, vehicle support, and EMS offices, along with a lounge, fitness center and storage space. Construction is underway at the 332 Metropolitan Avenue site near Roebling Street, and the building is slated to open in August 2012. [Fast Company via Brownstoner] [more]

The New York City Police Department is investigating a suspicious fire that broke out this morning at a six-story Bronx residential building, leaving three dead and three injured, according to the New York Times. The fire at 2275 Morris Avenue off the corner of East 183rd Street in Fordham Heights broke out at 7:50 a.m. and took roughly 40 minutes to get under control, according to a spokesperson for the Fire Department of New York, who said that 60 firefighters arrived on the scene. No firefighters suffered serious injuries. [more]

A tenant in an illegal apartment in East New York died after being trapped in the cellar dwelling during a small fire early this morning, according to the Department of Buildings. The two-story building at 568 Drew Street had been illegally converted to accommodate a basement tenant, a DOB spokesperson said.

Firefighters received a call alerting them to the blaze at 4:49 a.m. and arrived at the scene at 4:52 a.m., according to a spokesperson for the New York City Fire Department. The fire was under control at 5:23 a.m.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by the New York City Police Department, according to a NYPD spokesperson. [more]

Bob Diamond, a legendary railway explorer announced last Thursday that he is suing the Department of Transportation to regain access to the abandoned subway tunnel under Atlantic Avenue that he rediscovered three decades ago. The DOT canceled the official tours that he ran in the defunct tunnel, saying they were a fire hazard due to air quality concerns and having just one emergency exit, according to the Brooklyn Paper. Diamond is expected to argue in his suit that the city canceled his tours without allowing him to address the Fire Department of New York’s concerns. [more]

A Brooklyn man was killed yesterday morning in a fire inside an
abandoned home at 1138 East 35th Street in the Flatlands area,
according to the Fire Department of the City of New York. No other
injuries have been reported, and the victim’s identity has not yet been
released. A team of 60 firefighters worked for two hours to get the
fire under control. “We’re being told the building is a vacant
building,” FDNY Chief Wayne Cartwright told NY1. “It’s unoccupied by
the owners. The person residing inside was a squatter.” Locals who
awoke to the fire at 5:30 a.m. said that the house had been occupied by
squatters for about a year. The incident is still under investigation. [NY1]

[more]

Only one minor injury reported, no fatalities

The fire at 80 Devoe Street (photos by Derek Zahedi)

A
fire broke out this morning at 80 Devoe Street between Leonard and
Lorimer streets in Williamsburg, according to a staffer from The Real Deal
who was on the scene and first noticed black smoke and heard people
screaming as they exited the building down the fire escape a [more]

Only one minor injury reported, no fatalities

The fire at 80 Devoe Street (photos by Derek Zahedi)

A fire broke out this morning at 80 Devoe Street between Leonard and Lorimer streets in Williamsburg, according to a staffer from The Real Deal who was on the scene and first noticed black smoke and heard people screaming as they exited the building down the fire escape at a [more]

From left: Adam Lynch, a firefighter with the FDNY’s Ladder 11, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and the Chinatown fire

Just days after a seven-alarm fire ravaged a cluster of Chinatown buildings on Grand Street near Eldridge Street, killing one person, injuring dozens and rendering hundreds homeless, the transportation and public safety committee of Manhattan’s Community Board 3 met last night to discuss, among other things, a resolution denouncing the possible closure of fire stations in its neighborhood. The potential closures would come as part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed 4 percent budget cut for fiscal year 2011. Adam Lynch, a firefighter with the Fire Department of New York’s Ladder 11 at 222 East 2nd Street, said that response time has been a key determining factor in many stations’ fate in the past, which he feels is unfair. [more]

(Updated: 4:01 p.m. and 4:50 p.m.) A three-story Williamsburg residential building injured five workers — one seriously — when it collapsed today just before 1:30 p.m., trapping as many as three people under the rubble.

The brick building, at 34 Conselyea Street near Union and Metropolitan
avenues, is owned by 34 Conselyea Street LLC, headed by Lucille
Maundrell, mother of aptsandlofts.com President David Maundrell. While David has done
work on the property in the past, he said he is no longer affiliated
with 34 Conselyea Street LLC. The building appeared to have been under construction, Frank Dwyer, a spokesperson for the Fire Department of New York, said. The four with minor injuries were taken to Elmhurst Hospital; the person
in critical condition was taken to Bellevue. Three of the five had been
trapped, Dwyer said, although it wasn’t clear which three. The search
is still ongoing, but no one else is believed to be inside, he added.
The incident was first reported by WABC and Fox NY. [more]