At least 8 injured as fire tears through NYPD storage facility in Red Hook, Brooklyn

New York City's Department of Buildings was on scene Wednesday morning to assess the damage. 

Crews will investigate the structural stability to determine whether anyone can go back inside.

Almost a day later, it's still an active scene in Red Hook, and clouds of smoke can be seen from far away. 

The facility housed important evidence, some from decades ago, which all burned away in what could take days for officials to put out. 

Residents are now concerned about inhaling the smoke. 

CBS2's Kristie Keleshian has the latest from the scene. 

Investigators are trying to salvage what they can after a massive fire ripped through an NYPD warehouse where DNA, motor vehicles and other evidence for crimes are stored.

It happened in Red Hook, Brooklyn, along Gowanus Bay.

More than 12 hours after that fire started, firefighters were still there. The FDNY says it could be days before it's fully extinguished.

Eight people were hurt, including six first responders, and they're all expected to survive.

As the fire raged on, Chopper 2 reporter Dan Rice spotted FDNY marine units hosing down the side of the building.

The NYPD uses the property to store a range of evidence, including e-bikes and motor vehicles connected to crimes and more.

Chopper 2 did spot a plethora of vehicles lined up outside, but investigators are concerned about what's inside.  

"We did have some vehicles in there, and we had some biological evidence and ... DNA, things from past crimes, burglaries, maybe shooting incidents," NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said.

"You never want to be rid of evidence," said Pat McLaughlin, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

McLaughlin worked with NYPD's evidence collection team for 15 years.

"Some cases get solved by the smallest of details, or that small detail that didn't help solve the one case suddenly becomes important for another one that you're working on," he said.

He says investigators will no doubt be combing through each item to see what is salvageable.

Police say they don't yet know the extent of what was damaged or destroyed.

"I know some of the materials there go back several decades. When that gets lost to something like a fire, it's really a blow to a lot of investigations, potentially," McLaughlin said.

Also inside the warehouse were the patrol car of Officer Ed Byrne, who was killed on the job in 1988, and the NYPD mobile unit where Detective Miosotis Familia was shot and killed in the line of duty in 2017.

No word yet on whether either of those vehicles were damaged.

McLaughlin says this is just one of several places where the NYPD stores evidence, so most cases will not be affected.

Flames rolled out of a massive NYPD evidence storage facility in Red Hook, Brooklyn, on Tuesday morning.

The FDNY says there were lots of challenges fighting the fire. It was a massive blaze with nearly 150 fire and EMS personnel at the scene. We're told at least eight were injured, including two civilians and six members of fire and EMS, but none of the injuries are life-threatening.

Thick black smoke shrouded Brooklyn throughout the day, seen far and wide.

"I live right here on Dyckman Street, and the smoke, it was bad. This afternoon, earlier, it was real bad," Red Hook resident Rosa Martinez said.

The building, used by NYPD to store evidence, caught fire around 10:30 Tuesday morning, according to officials.

"We have about 14 members of the service who work here, and we did have some outside contractors here, about six contractors. The contractors went into the warehouse to start performing their tasks and they observed the fire," NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said.

But there were challenges to putting it out. The FDNY says the metal building partially collapsed at one point as they moved to an exterior attack, from the street, the air and the water.

"We also are using our drones in the air to pinpoint where we have the fire so we can move around the boats to extinguish all of the fire that's possible," FDNY Chief of Department John Hodgens said.

The building was used to store dozens of e-bikes and a variety of vehicles as evidence. They were also storing a large volume of biological evidence - DNA, items from crime scenes -- but the NYPD says rape kits were not kept there.

"The evidence goes back a long time, 20, 30 years. Some of the evidence was also from Sandy," Maddrey said.

While we still don't know the full extent of this damage, officials believe most of the items in the space are likely destroyed.

"This fire is probably going to go on for a few days by the time we are able to fully extinguish it and get inside possibly to get to the deep-seated areas," Hodgens said.

The heavy smoke throughout the day- causing concern for some in the area.

"I have to be concerned and more careful because I got elderly parents and that smoke is going to be lingering," Martinez said.

The NYPD was very clear that this is not a building where they brought cars that were towed for traffic violations, so the public doesn't have to worry about that. But they're calling this a loss for the department. We still don't know how this could impact ongoing crime investigations.  

A three-alarm fire broke out in Red Hook, Brooklyn, on Tuesday that could be seen far and wide. The warehouse where the flames started is a facility owned by the NYPD.

As CBS2's Hannah Kliger reports, the smell of smoke was still thick in the air more than six hours after the fire started, and there was still a heavy FDNY presence in this area. Fire officials say it's going to take a long time, possibly even days, to fully put the fire out.

Black smoke shrouded parts of Brooklyn on Tuesday morning, flames breaking out just after 10:30 a.m. at the Erie Basin NYPD evidence vehicle facility.

"We have three marine fire boats here that are putting a lot of water onto this fire. It's a deep-seated heavy volume of fire that's hard to get to the seat of the fire," FDNY Chief of Department John Hodgens said.

At least eight people were injured, according to the department, including three firefighters, three EMS workers and two civilians, but none of the injuries are life-threatening.

The blaze prompted a massive response. Nearly 150 personnel were on scene as they fought the flames from the street and from the water.

"This building is not really a very sturdy type of building. It's a metal building with truss construction, which has a large collapse potential, which is why we backed our members out of the building early in the operation," Hodgens said.

The NYPD used the building to store evidence, according to the department.

"DNA, things from past crimes, burglaries, maybe shooting incidents, we have some biological evidence here as well," NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said.

But Maddrey says no rape evidence kits were kept there.

The space was also used to store e-bikes, motorbikes, cars and other vehicles. But police were very clear -- this is not a lot where cars were towed for traffic violations.

"Very serious and damaging fire. We won't really know the magnitude of what was destroyed in there until we have an opportunity to look at the envoy to see what was in there," Maddrey said.

It's unclear at this point the effect this fire could have on open police investigations. The department says the evidence stored there dates back 20-30 years.

Officials say they believe most of the materials in the building are damaged but haven't had a chance to conduct a proper evaluation. Once the flames are fully put out, the investigation into the cause will begin.

FDNY Chief of Department John Hodgens says there have been eight injuries so far, including three members of the FDNY, three EMS personnel, and two civilians. All of the injuries are considered minor. 

"We attempted an interior fire attack, but the members were overwhelmed by the amount of fire and we had to back all of our firefighters out of the building and go to an exterior attack," Hodgens said. "It's a deep seated, heavy volume of fire, that's hard to get to the seat of the fire." 

Hodgens said he expects the fire may last for "a few days by the time we're able to fully extinguish it." 

Hodgens said the warehouse is full of "a large amount of combustible material" and has "collapse potential." 

"This is one of our property facilities for the NYPD," Chief of Patrol Jeffrey Maddrey said. "What's stored here, in particular, is we have a lot of biological evidence that's here. We also have some e-bikes, motor vehicles, and we do have a few historic vehicles as well. So we don't know the severity of the damage inside." 

"DNA, things from past crimes, burglaries, shooting incidents, we have some biological evidence here as well," Maddrey said. "It's mainly evidence, but we store other things there as well." 

"The evidence goes back a long time, 20-30 years. Some of the evidence was also property from Sandy as well," he added. 

The fire is happening at an NYPD tow pound facility. 

The Office of Emergency Management is advising people who live in the neighborhood to close all windows to avoid smoke, and to stay clear of the area.

Chopper 2 was over the scene. 

Smoke was blowing south-southwest towards Sunset Park and possibly Bay Ridge. 

Multiple fire and police boats are spraying water into the facility. 

At least one person is being treated for injuries. 

The fire broke out just after 10:30 a.m. and grew to three alarms, with more than 140 firefighters responding. 

Chopper 2 was overhead as first responders could be seen taking someone from the area of the fire away in a gurney. There was no immediate information on the person's condition. 

The fire is sending up plumes of smoke across various neighborhoods. 

Impacted residents are being advised to avoid smoke and close windows. 

Traffic delays are also to be expected in the area of Columbia and Halleck Streets in Brooklyn. 

The fire has grown to three alarms, the FDNY said. 

The FDNY has escalated the fire on Columbia Street to two alarms. 

Video from the scene shows fire leaping through the roof of the large structure. Meanwhile, FDNY boats can be seen pouring water on the blaze.