Christmas Decorations Eyed As Cause Of Fire At Midtown Building
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) - Firefighters responded to a blaze at a Midtown high-rise office building Friday morning.
Five dozen firefighters responded to the fire at 333 Madison Avenue, a block from Grand Central Terminal.
It took crews over an hour to bring the blaze under control. Officials say it was an electrical issue that started on the outside of the building, and the FDNY is looking into whether Christmas decorations that were hanging outside the building caught fire.
Fire officials are investigating Christmas decorations hanging outside this high-rise at Madison Ave & 42nd street as the cause of a fire that started at 10:30 this morning. Everyone's ok. Streets in the area have re-opened. @CBSNewYork pic.twitter.com/ovtPxJlSn6
— Natalie Duddridge (@NatDuddridgeTV) December 21, 2018
Investigators say there are regulations surrounding how buildings must safely decorate, and it appears those rules were followed in this case.
Firefighters went floor by floor searching for people who may have suffered from smoke inhalation, but luckily everyone got out okay.
Authorities redirected traffic as onlookers posted videos to social media of flames and smoke pouring out of the front of the building near the street level.
"I ignored the notification. Then when I smelled the smoke, that's when we left. That's when everyone left. Once we smelled it, we left it. And now we need to go back, and I don't think that's going to happen today," one evacuee told CBS2.
Madison Avenue reopened to traffic late Friday afternoon, but the sidewalk remains closed as crews clean the mess left by the blaze.