NEW YORK - A four-alarm fire broke out on top of an apartment building in East Village on Thursday evening.
The apartment, located at 240 East Houston Street, had its entire roof top burning as of 5:55 p.m., reported NBC NewYork. At 6:05, the firefighters arrived on the rooftop and had the fire under control in 40 minutes.
No injuries have been reported so far as the building was unoccupied at the time of the fire. However, three firefighters were injured during the firefighting process, reported NY1 News.
The cause of the fire is still unknown.
The fire affected traffic with East Houston Street closed from Christie Street to Norfolk Street and Essex Street closed from Delancy Street to Second Avenue. Some bus routes were also altered accordingly.
According to the New York Fire Department, July 6 and 7 were the busiest days of the month for the fire department due to the heat wave with call volume increasing by 20 percent. Of the two days, July 6 was the busiest day for the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) in a decade.
“Heat makes the call volume increase all the time,” said Assistant Chief of EMS John McFarland. “Heat definitely played a role here.”
The increase in call volume meant that it was harder for the fire department to focus on the most serious incident. Of the 4,225 calls made on July 6, only 1,575 were life threatening.
EMS workers are asking all resident to “be mindful about calling 911 only when necessary, as to not tax the system with unnecessary responses.”
The apartment, located at 240 East Houston Street, had its entire roof top burning as of 5:55 p.m., reported NBC NewYork. At 6:05, the firefighters arrived on the rooftop and had the fire under control in 40 minutes.
No injuries have been reported so far as the building was unoccupied at the time of the fire. However, three firefighters were injured during the firefighting process, reported NY1 News.
The cause of the fire is still unknown.
The fire affected traffic with East Houston Street closed from Christie Street to Norfolk Street and Essex Street closed from Delancy Street to Second Avenue. Some bus routes were also altered accordingly.
According to the New York Fire Department, July 6 and 7 were the busiest days of the month for the fire department due to the heat wave with call volume increasing by 20 percent. Of the two days, July 6 was the busiest day for the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) in a decade.
“Heat makes the call volume increase all the time,” said Assistant Chief of EMS John McFarland. “Heat definitely played a role here.”
The increase in call volume meant that it was harder for the fire department to focus on the most serious incident. Of the 4,225 calls made on July 6, only 1,575 were life threatening.
EMS workers are asking all resident to “be mindful about calling 911 only when necessary, as to not tax the system with unnecessary responses.”
