A fire broke out in a landmarked Upper West Side townhouse last night around 6:30 p.m. It started on the second floor, where construction had been taking place, and spread to four other floors. A shocked resident, Monica Buccheri, said, "I could smell smoke, and I said, ‘Tony, I can smell smoke,’ and he said, ‘Really? And the next thing you know, people were banging on the doors, and we opened the door and the hallway was filled with smoke."
According to NBC New York, "It quickly spread through the open bay into the walls, and then continued to travel up through the walls and pipes to the top floor." The building is a six-story, landmarked brownstone. In recent months, there have been complaints about illegal work, and a neighborhood block association president said, "That place has been questionable since they started six months ago."
Buccheri and Tony Clatt managed to get their cats out. Clatt said to WABC 7, "I had vintage guitars from '74. Gone. Unreplaceable. The rest I don't care about, the rest is Ikea. Who cares?"
No one was seriously injured—12 firefighters had minor injuries—and the fire was under control by 8:45 p.m. with 170 (!) firefighters responding. The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
