A four-alarm inferno ripped through a Brooklyn warehouse Wednesday afternoon – leaving “extensive damage” and ravaging at least 25 businesses that stored their wares there, the FDNY said.
The blaze broke out around 12:40 p.m. inside the Red Hook facility on Columbia Street that stores refrigeration material, food, household items and manufacturing products, according to the department.
“Upon arrival, the fire was blowing out the roofs in multiple areas, and [it reached] a second alarm very quickly,” FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said.
The blaze, which initially only impacted three storage bays, continued raging until it reached four alarms, drawing more than 200 firefighters to the scene, fire officials said.
“Our engine companies moved in very aggressively, very deliberately,” FDNY Chief of Operations Kevin Woods told reporters. “They prevented further extensions within this building.”
The flames left the roof of the building with “extensive damage,” according to Woods.
The bitter cold and blustery wind gusts posed an additional challenge, officials said.
“The weather was definitely a factor,” Woods said.
“The wind was carrying the embers throughout this building and catching fire to multiple other bays.”
“It’s a very dangerous job,” he added.
“It’s a very physically demanding job, as well.”
No one was hurt, but Woods suspects that 25 businesses were impacted, as the facility is home to 25 storage bays.
Bonsignore commended the firefighters on scene for “an outstanding job of putting this fire out.”
The fire erupted steps from the Erie Basin Auto Pound – the NYPD’s massive auto pound which stores DNA evidence and vehicles suspected of being used in crimes – which was engulfed in flames in both 2022and 2024.
The facility was untouched by the fire this time, cops said.
The warehouse fire also came about four months after a five-alarm blaze ripped through a nearby historic warehouse on Van Brunt Street.
Although that warehouse – that houses artists’ studios – was unoccupied, two responding firefighters suffered minor injuries.
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