NY Daily News – February 21, 2015
by Joseph Stepansky, Thomas Tracy
It wasn’t a fire – just a troubled water pipe.
The pipe froze, leading to a smoke condition that forced firefighters to rip down a wall in Art Garfunkel’s Upper East Side penthouse apartment, a rep for the singer said Friday.
Firefighters were called to the 73-year-old’s swanky 15th-floor digs on E. 79th St. at Fifth Ave., overlooking Central Park, around 11 a.m. Thursday, officials said.
Garfunkel’s spokesman, Todd Brodginski, said there was never a fire, but a frozen pipe being thawed by a maintenance crew sparked a smoke condition.
“A wall in Garfunkel’s office had to be broken down, thus damaging just 75 books in his 1,216 neatly curated literary collection,” Brodginski said in an email.
No one was injured.
Garfunkel, a native of Queens who shot to superstardom in the 1960s with partner Paul Simon, was returning from an arena show in Seoul, Korea, when firefighters were ripping his home apart, Brodginski said. His family wasn’t home either.
“We can’t praise the speed and effectiveness of (firefighters) enough and extend the most heartfelt and sincere gratitude to the men and women that protect this city,” Garfunkel said in a statement.
The FDNY fire marshal’s office was investigating the incident.
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