Brooklyn residents improvise their Thanksgiving meals after manhole fire forces evacuations
NEW YORK -- Thanksgiving meals were interrupted by flames in Brooklyn after a manhole fire spread to a building, prompting emergency evacuations.
Residents in Brooklyn Heights were forced to improvise their holiday plans because of high carbon monoxide levels in the vicinity of their homes on Remsen Street.
"It's scary seeing flames coming up in front of your house," James Deutsch said.
According to the FDNY, two other apartment buildings were evacuated due to high levels of carbon monoxide due to the fire, which started at around noon on Thursday.
The FDNY said there were no injuries and that by 6:30 p.m. levels had dropped enough so that residents could safely return, but added power to approximately 82 customers likely wouldn't be restored until around midnight. Con Edison and National Grid remained on the scene.
"The cause of the fire in the building, which we're assuming is correlated to the electrical fire in the street, is still under investigation," FDNY Deputy Chief Stephen P. Corcoran said.
Deutsch family makes the best of it, thanks to the FDNY
Diana Deutsch and her husband, James, went from setting up a dinner table for 14 to carrying their Thanksgiving meal onto the sidewalk.
"We have our sweet potatoes. We have our turkey," Diana Deutsch said.
Family members said they were happy that firefighters were able to salvage their dinner.
"We were able to go in, save their Thanksgiving dinner, pack it up," Corcoran said, adding it was an "extremely distressing situation, especially on a holiday like to be able to go that extra mile just help these people out, you know, beneficial for everyone."
"Instead of serving it in our own house, we're gonna bring it over to my son's," Diana Deutsch said.
"So, it's just gonna be a much smaller gathering, but thank God we're all safe," James Deutsch said.
