More than 130 firefighters battled a three-alarm blaze at a sanitation garage on Pier 97 that shutdown the West Side highway. Three firefighters went to the hospital with minor injuries.
The fire began at around 3:30 p.m. on 57th street and 12th avenue.
The blaze was on a sanitation pier. It began in trailers containing garbage, according to FDNY. Fire officials are checking the stability of the pier after wooden parts of the structure and trailers filled with garbage went up in flames
“There were no injuries, no panic. Everyone got out, everyone did his and her job,” said Sanitation Supervisor Gilbert Keyes, who was inside the trailer when the fire broke. “We got keys to the cars, moved the cars off the pier and made an alleyway, made it accessible for the Fire Department to do their part.”
“All the men lost their uniforms, boots, personal items that were in their lockers…. Their lunchroom was gone, the whole north field is gone,” he said.
Firefighters were concerned that the day’s strong winds would spread to a nearby Consolidated Edison pier that contained fuel lines, but the fire was able to be contained.
