There seems to be some buildings on fire in Brooklyn is this near the WTS?
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=4137745
Brooklyn on fire.
by GBSJG 8 Replies latest social current
-
GBSJG
-
stillajwexelder
If Brooklyn Bethel burned down , all it would do would be to speed the transfer to Patterson/Walkill - which IMHO will happen in the next 10 years anyway
-
candidlynuts
it may be in the dumbo area.
Massive warehouse inferno still smoldering, more than 24 hours later
Investigators say it could be arson
By Ken Rosato(Greenpoint-WABC, May 2, 2006) - As yesterday's fire at several vacant warehouses on the Brooklyn waterfront continues to smolder this morning there are more indications that arson may be to blame.
The fire is still a ten alarm assignment this morning in Greenpoint Brooklyn.
The fire has not yet been officially placed under control.
The police department is on the way to the scene with a crane. They're going to begin demolition of the building.
The wind has shifted slightly a little towards Manhattan so look for some rubbernecking conditions along the FDR Drive and the Williamsburg Bridge.
Eyewitness news reporter Ken Rosato is standing by in Greenpoint with the latest on these arson suspicions.
It's been 24 hours since flames erupted at seven warehouses here on the waterfront.
Now the "Daily News" is reporting that fire marshals found accelerant in five different spots on the 21 acre site.
The fire department is investigating the case as possible arson.
More than 400 firefighters converged on yesterday's fiery scene at a former rope factory.
The 10 alarm fire eventually engulfed 15 buildings, making it the largest in New York City in a decade, excluding "9/11".
From the very beginning, the fire raised suspicions:
- Its speed
- Its predawn timing
- The location, acres of prime waterfront property in a booming neighborhood that a developer already had big plans for.
This fire scene is in the same area, the high- rise housing complex is being planned by Real Estate tycoon Joshua Guttman.
Phil DiPaulo, Neighborhood Activist: "We've heard numbers upwards of 400 million dollars."
Neighborhood residents had been fighting to stop much of the waterfront redevelopment by getting the warehouses declared historic landmarks.
Neighborhood Activist: "If we succeeded in landmarking that site, that would impede their ability to build these giant 400 foot buildings on that site".
Guttman's lawyer insists his client had nothing to do with the fire.
He says the destruction it caused, as well as the bad publicity, created more problems than the planned demolition would have.
Meanwhile, initial reports that a 2004 fire at another property Guttman wanted to develop in Dumbo was suspicious have since been discounted.
A fire official said a lengthy investigation was not able to turn up a cause in that fire.
And he added Mr. Guttman cooperated with both investigations.
After more than 24 hours this morning, you could still see fire in some smoldering spots.
-
stevenyc
This was a big fire. I was flying home yesterday morning, and our plane had to stack for forty minuets before we could land because of the smoke. These are old warehouse buildings in Greenpoint on the waterfront. Unfortunately for apostates and those who subscribe to apocalypticism alike, the buildings are no where near the Watchtower HQ.Mrs stevenyc woke to the smell of smoke, and called the fire services. They sent a truck, and an old firefighter, who nonchalantly asked, 'mam, have you seen the news this morning"?
steve
-
blondie
Notice that Greenpoint is to the north and Brooklyn Heights is in the lower left hand corner.
Blondie
-
Nina
Slide 5 (of 23) on the channel 7 website states that the fire broke out on West and Noble.
Mapquest puts the intersection of West and Noble 5.83miles from 360 Furman which was the WT building on the waterfront.
Nina
-
Leolaia
Ground Zero was a lot closer.
-
Tea4Two
Sounds "Mafia" related to me...
-
Gamaliel
This is not in the Brooklyn Heights or DUMBO (bridges) area. As Leolaia already mentioned, 9/11 "ground zero" was a lot closer.
It reminds me of the Hotel Margaret fire that started in the middle of the night on one extremely cold night in January 1980. The fire department hoses started working more like snowblowers. The heat was so intense that my building had melted windows in the Service Department offices, with additional window damage on the second floor, outside of Bert Schroeder's office and the Gilead classrooms. My room was on the third floor right outside the door of the Gilead library. Several cars parked around the building burned thoroughly.
That fire in 1980 was also assumed to be arson. Bethelites (including a former roommate) claimed they saw people going in the day before with bails of hay. The upshot was that the developer, Bruce Eichner, who was nearing completion of his renovation of the hotel into condos, lost everything apparently. He had insured the building for $3 million, barely covering the building mortgage and his construction loans, but still owed the city another $300,000 to carry the rubble away after expenses. They wouldn't let him build it up again because, although the hotel was 175 feet tall, no new construction could rise above 50 feet. (Our building was a bit over the limit, too, and JWs fought this same rule many times, themselves.) Eichner was a long time Brooklyn Heights developer and had competed with the JWs for some of the same properties (360 Furman, Franklin Arms Hotel). His next Brooklyn Heights attempt collapsed (literally) during renovations at the Hotel Montague, and he started making his fortune in Manhattan.
In 1980, there was an undercurrent of suspicion that the Watchtower Society might have been involved. I say this, not because it was -- at least, I doubt very much that it was -- but because it was a very "suspicious" time. Witch hunts were being conducted. Star chamber tactices were being employed. Friends were being asked to turn against their friends. Long-time friends and neighbors were "disappearing" after accusation or suspicion alone. A midnight fire during the peak of this trouble was just further fuel.
By Ken Rosato