Trump Tower In New York Catches Fire Leaving 1 Dead, 4 Injured, Donald Trump Tweets ‘Well Built Building’
One person was critically injured after a fire broke out on the 50th floor of the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, New York. Four other people were reportedly injured from the four-alarm fire, which occurred around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, CBS New York reported.
An automatic alarm alerted the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) to the fire engulfing the apartment on the high-rise building. Despite the raging fire, responding firefighters entered the apartment where they found the victim. The man was rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital where he later died. Four of the firefighters were injured during the fire with two of them suffering burns.
“The apartment was virtually entirely on fire,” FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. “They pushed in heroically, they were knocking down the fire, they found one occupant of the apartment on the 50th floor.”
Nigro added that the firefighters had some difficulties with the fire since the apartment was “quite large” and was located “50 stories up.” He also said the rest of the building was filled with smoke, making things harder for the responders, Newsweek reported.
According to Nigro, the Trump family was not in the high-rise building when the fire broke out. United States President Donald Trump has a private residence on the 66th floor of the structure while the Trump Organization is also headquartered there. Members of the Secret Service were on hand to determine if the residences of the first family were damaged.
BREAKING: 1 person killed in fire at Trump Tower in NYC, officials say; fire now ‘under control’ https://t.co/wdVIFDc6Gf
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 8, 2018
Trump, who was in Washington, addressed the situation on Twitter. He thanked the responders as he insinuated in his tweet that the fire did not spread through the Trump Tower since it was “well built.”
“Fire at Trump Tower is out,” Trump tweeted. “Very confined (well built building). Fireman (and women) did a great job. THANK YOU!”
First Son Eric Trump also took to Twitter to praise the firefighters.
“Thank you to the amazing men and women of the NYFD who extinguished a fire in a residential apartment @Trump Tower. The @FDNY and @NYPD are truly some of the most incredible people anywhere,” the younger Trump said.
Eric later called out mental health counselor Jeffrey Guterman, who tweeted that he hoped the fire at Trump Tower continued.
Said like a complete scumbag @JeffreyGuterman pic.twitter.com/yAyAznihqh
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) April 8, 2018
Neither Donald or Eric Trump mentioned the casualty of the fire.
The president has yet to tweet about the man who died tonight in Trump Tower. His only tweet so far praised firefighters and touted his “well built building.”
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 8, 2018
Nigro later said the fire wasn’t fully under control, around an hour after Trump tweeted the fire was out, as the fire commissioner said there was still smoke in the building. The Daily Mail reported, however, that the fire was declared under control at around 7:45 p.m.
The official Twitter account of the New York Police Department, NYPD News, advised that the roads near the Trump Tower, particularly in the area of 5th Avenue and West 57 Street, would be closed to prioritize responding emergency vehicles. The NYPD also advised people to expect heavy traffic in the vicinity.
The cause of the fire has yet to be determined as well as the identity of the victim.
