NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- A massive fire at an NYPD impound and evidence warehouse in Brooklyn on Tuesday sent a large cloud of smoke over the area and was expected to burn for days, with a fire official saying he believes “most of the contents are damaged by fire.”
Police and fire officials said it’s not yet clear what was destroyed in the inferno, but the warehouse stores evidence, including DNA evidence, for crimes going back decades.
About 150 first responders, comprised of firefighters and EMS, continued to respond Tuesday afternoon to the three-alarm fire at 700 Columbia St. in Red Hook, which houses the NYPD’s Erie Basin Auto Pound.
Video shows a warehouse structure engulfed in flames and a large plume of thick, black smoke over the waterside facility after the FDNY received call there just before 10:40 a.m.
Responding firefighters encountered a “large volume” of fire on arrival, FDNY Chief John Hodgens said at an afternoon press conference.
“We attempted an interior fire attack, but with the members overwhelmed by the amount of fire, we had to back all of our firefighters out of building,” he said.
Firefighters began an exterior attack, hitting the warehouse with water from several marine boats guided by air drones, Hodgens said.
He described the blaze as a “deep-seated, heavy volume fire that’s hard to get to the seat of” because the warehouse doesn’t have many windows.
“This building is not really a very sturdy type of building,” he said, adding that a section of it collapsed as firefighters were responding. The department is concerned about a larger collapse as well as a “large amount” of combustibles inside.
A total of eight people were injured in the fire—three firefighters, three EMS and two civilians, Hodgens said. All of the victims suffered minor injuries and are expected to be okay.
“This fire is probably going to go on for a few days,” Hodgens said. “I would estimate that most of the contents are damaged by fire.”
According to NYPD Chief Jeffrey Maddrey, 14 members of the service and six outside contractors were working at the facility. The contractors went into the warehouse and saw fire “up on shelves” above the ground level. They informed police personnel, and everyone got out.
As for what’s stored inside the warehouse, Maddrey said “a lot of biological evidence” is there, including from cold cases, as well as a “substantial amount” of vehicles, motorbikes and e-bikes, along with several historical vehicles.
Maddrey described the biological evidence as “DNA, things from past crimes, burglaries, maybe shooting incidents.” He said the “main purpose” of the facility is the storage of evidence, while he dispelled reports that rape kits are stored there.
“The evidence goes back a long time, 20, 30 years,” he said. “Some of the evidence was also from Sandy, property from Sandy.”
According to the police department, the Red Hook auto pound is used to store vehicles for criminal investigations, not parking violations.
Maddrey said it appeared to be a significant loss for the department. “We don’t really know the magnitude of what was destroyed until we have the opportunity to look at the invoice and see what was in there.”
An invoice of the property will be made once the building is secured by the FDNY, he said.
The NYPD’s arson and explosion squad will investigate the cause of the fire and see what can be salvaged, he said.
The New York field office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it was at the scene to support the FDNY’s response.
Emergency Management advised residents in the area to avoid smoke and close windows. Drivers should expect traffic delays.
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