A body was recovered from the site of the 7-alarm fire that ravaged multiple buildings on Grand Street in Chinatown on Sunday night. It's believed the body is of an elderly tenant at 285 Grand Street who was missing. Thirty-three people were hurt while hundreds of residents are homeless—and the damage was so great that 283 and 285-287 Grand Street will be demolished. City Councilwoman Margaret Chin said to the NY Times, “Two of the buildings are in really bad shape. There’s no roof; it’s really just a shell, so they’re going to have to tear them down."

FDNY Chief Ed Kilduff told the Daily News the fire spread so fast and strong—it was the city's first 7-alarm fire since the 2007 Deutsche Bank fire—"Because the buildings are old - the two buildings here are 110 years old - there's an awful lot of voids and shafts in these buildings and the fire just travels all through the place. It made it a catch-up operation."

The NY Times reports, "The building in Chinatown where an enormous blaze started late Sunday night had more than two dozen open violations for hazardous conditions, including missing smoke detectors, lead paint and other problems that signified a history of neglect, city records show." One resident, who paid $770/month for a one bedroom, said that trash would pile up and there frequently was no hot water or heat during the winter. After calls to 311, the heat would be turned off, but then go off quickly.

Intriguingly, the Times also notes, "The owners put the buildings, which were home to two ground-level stores and 30 apartments, on sale for the third time in five years in December, asking $13.5 million, according to Central City Brokerage, which carried the listing. Before the fire, the asking price had been dropped to $9.25 million. Of the 30 apartments, five were rent-controlled, 23 were rent-stabilized and two were rented at market rate, according to the listing."

A woman whose Eldridge Street apartment was hit by the fire told the News, "I lost everything else: my children's photo albums, my wedding pictures, my grandma's jewelry and my grandfather's Purple Heart. It's devastating," adding, "Most of the people that live here are immigrants with no resources at all. They literally only have the clothes on their backs. I hope anyone who could help with all this will."