The seven-alarm fire that decimated a Brooklyn warehouse over the weekend continued to smolder four days later as investigators waited for an opportunity to get into the charred structure so they could begin to assess a cause for the devastating blaze.
Fire units were at the North 11th Street scene in Williamsburg again Tuesday, dousing water on the still burning remnants of the warehouse, which stored mostly paper health care records. Those paper records, along with high winds, fueled the fire Saturday as nearly 275 fire and emergency personnel battled the flames in frigid temperatures.
Fire officials said Tuesday it might be days before authorities had any information on how the blaze started.
"The building is a total loss," Chief of Department James Leonard said at the scene Saturday.
"This is going to smolder for quite some time," he added. “We’re probably here two to three weeks.”
Health officials warned nearby residents and those downwind of the smoky blaze to stay indoors and keep their windows closed. Elderly people, children and people with respiratory conditions could have a hard time breathing, they said.
One minor injury was reported. A civilian outside the structure suffered from smoke inhalation.
The warehouse, operated by CitiStorage, primarily stored records for more than 100 health care organizations and law firms, according to Recall Holdings, the parent company of CitiStorage.
"First and foremost, Recall is relieved that no major injuries have been reported as a result of the fire at our Information Center in Brooklyn," company senior vice president Ron McMurtrie said in a news release.
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He said the company will investigate and report the status of records to its clients.
New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, one of the warehouse customers, keeps duplicates of vital patient records in electronic form, spokesman Ian Michaels said in a statement. "We do not anticipate that this will affect our operations," he said.
