Gothamist – February 27, 2017
by JEN CHUNG
A huge fire broke out in a Manhattan apartment on the Upper West Side and 170 firefighters responded to what ended being a four-alarm blaze.
The fire began at 509 Amsterdam Avenue but spread to a neighboring building. according to NBC New York, “The fire started on the third floor of 509 Amsterdam Ave., then got into a shaft and shot up through the fifth floor, then spread to the building next door, no. 511, FDNY Chief of Department James Leonard said.”
On the ground floor of 509 Amsterdam Avenue is Jacob’s Pickles, while 511 Amsterdam has E’s Bar. The FDNY responded around 6 p.m., and it took nearly three hours for the firefighters to control the situation.
PIX 11 reports, “Two employees who worked at E’s Bar under the building warned residents just when the fire started.” Ralph Green said, “We smelled what I said right away what was an electrical fire because you can just smell wires burning. We ran outside, saw what was coming it was coming from the roof, Brady got the keys.” They also grabbed an extinguisher and ran into the building, telling residents to leave.
Another resident told WABC 7 about a neighbor frantically trying to find his pet, “He was like looking for his cat and trying to pour water on his armoire that was completely up in flames.” E’s Bar bartender Brady Byrnes said, “He was just like, ‘My cat, my cat!’ and he ran back towards the apartment but the door was locked. ‘My doors locked, my doors locked.’.. I kicked the door to try to get it open but it was red hot, we couldn’t get it open.”
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