Social Media

Smoky Fire Erupts on Roof of Manhattan's Chelsea Market, Tenants Evacuate

One person was injured and hundreds more people were evacuated after a fire erupted on the roof of Manhattan's Chelsea Market Tuesday afternoon, the FDNY said. 

Photos on social media showed heavy black smoke pouring from the roof of the building at about 12:20 p.m, while the FDNY said about 300 people were evacuated from the building as a precaution.

The thick smoke billowed from the building and hung over the streets--making for dramatic scenes in Chelsea--but within an hour the FDNY said the fire was under control and it had given the all clear for people to go back into the building. 

View this post on Instagram

#Fire in meatpacking @chelseamarketny

A post shared by Barbara Apple Sullivan (@brandmusings) on

The Chelsea Market is a large indoor food market located on Ninth Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets. It is a block long, a block wide and 8 stories high. About 35 vendors have businesses at the market.

Some tenants reported evacuating the premises, and the market tweeted that office floors adjacent to the market were evacuated as precaution.

Firefighters evacuated some 300 people from the office floors as a precaution.

Mitch Jakuboski works in the building. He said he smelled smoke coming from the roof as firefighters started evacuating people. 

"They came, they said you have to evacuate, there's a fire above us," Jakuboski said. "When we went outside, we looked up at the air conditioner, and you could see that unit on the roof was all smoking." 

A spokesperson for the Chelsea Market said a minor fire started within the cooling tower on the roof of the building. She said the market was working with the FDNY to make sure the situation "remains under control."

Black smoke billowed from Chelsea Market Tuesday after the roof caught fire.

The FDNY said the call came in around 12:15 p.m. for a fire on the roof. 

By 1 p.m. the fire was knocked down, the FDNY tweeted, but one non life-threatening injury had been reported.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSMDpiNBEE
Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us