Five-alarm blaze tears through industrial buildings on Sunset Park waterfront

A five-alarm fire ripped through industrial buildings in the early morning hours of Wednesday, March 11 on the waterfront between 52nd and 53rd streets in Sunset Park.

The Sunset Post received an unconfirmed report that FDNY investigators believe the fire may have been caused by a natural gas explosion.

“Extensive, extensive damage to these buildings, just complete losses,” FDNY Chief of Fire Operations Kevin Woods said about the blaze.

Buildings badly damaged included 12 53rd St., where exterior signage identified the business as Mr. Tile, as well as 17 53rd St., where signage identified Natar Foods Inc. Two additional buildings appeared to suffer fire and water damage.

When firefighters arrived, they immediately shifted to an exterior operation, according to Woods, using tower ladders and two fireboats to hose 15,000 gallons of water a minute onto the blaze. Because of the intensity of the fire, firefighters were not able to enter the buildings.

The FDNY advised local residents to close their windows to avoid the smoke.

Herman, a Bay Ridge resident, was working Tuesday night into Wednesday morning at Socceroof, a sports complex on the third floor of the Whale Building directly across the street from the burning warehouses.

Sometime after midnight, police rushed into Socceroof and told everyone they needed to evacuate immediately. There was one other employee working that night with Herman, along with approximately 50 people playing soccer and socializing.

“For some reason, some people went on the elevator” to leave the building, according to Herman. He reflected that it was not the correct protocol when evacuating, especially when massive plumes of fire are visible out the window only a few dozen feet away.

“And then after everyone was already gone when we were closing stuff, the explosions happened and we ran out,” Herman said. It was at that point that he admitted to being afraid of the blaze right next door.

With fireboats pumping from the bay, unlimited water was available to pour onto the flames.

Steve, a security guard working at a gated entrance for Alpha Generation Narrows, arrived at the scene the morning after the fire was almost extinguished. He watched the FDNY pump water out of the building that morning.

“It was a huge mess,” he said, as he watched the water flow out onto 53rd Street.

A massive force of 250 firefighters and EMS personnel responded to the fire. Two firefighters received minor injuries, mostly due to smoke inhalation, according to Woods.

“We are going to have resources here for quite some time,” Woods said at a press conference the night of the fire.

By 9 a.m., the fire continued to smolder and water continued to be hosed onto the smoking rubble.

By Friday, March 13, two days after the fire, an FDNY truck was still parked on 53rd Street monitoring the scene. Crews wearing respirators were removing black plastic bags from the site. Con Edison workers were trying to assess the electric infrastructure and make sure it was safe.

No hazardous materials situation was reported, according to Woods, although the smell of the fire was still present in the lobby of the Whale Building across the street.

Alpha Generation Narrows, where Steve has worked as a security guard for 18 years, is an electric power generation facility. It occupies many buildings on 53rd Street. The facility “provides rapid, reliable electricity to the New York City grid” with its floating generators, according to its website. It’s primarily powered by natural gas.

Long, thick pipes snaking throughout the waterfront facility are visible about 50 feet from the scorched scene of the fire. On the same block, in the direction of First Avenue, is a massive aboveground storage tank with a sign reading, “Working Capacity 2,400,000...PRODUCT: DIESEL.”