Author Topic: Large explosion, fire in East Harlem; at least 16 hurt  (Read 1064 times)

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Offline happyg

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Large explosion, fire in East Harlem; at least 16 hurt
« on: March 12, 2014, 03:14:50 pm »
 --  Police and fire officials are on the scene of an explosion and two building collapses at 116th Street and Park Avenue in Upper Manhattan Wednesday morning.



•The explosion happened at either 1644 or 1646 Park Avenue around 9:30 a.m.
•Both buildings have collapsed down to the first floor
• At least 16 people are injured, four of them seriously
•Thick smoke is blanketing the area like fog, and residents are urged to stay indoors and keep windows closed
•More than 200 firefighters from more than 40 units are on the scene

CLICK HERE to watch live streaming coverage of the explosion.

At least 16 injuries, four of them serious, were reported. Harlem Hospital reports it has one patient who suffered heavy trauma and is expecting at least one more.

East Harlem residents reported hearing a large explosion in the five-story building around 9:30 a.m. The address is either 1644 or 1646 Park Avenue, both of which have businesses on ground floor and apartments above.

A five-alarm fire was burning, and officials confirm that both structures collapsed to the first floor. Neighboring buildings were damaged as well.

CLICK HERE to see images from the scene.

Smoke poured from the top of the buildings, and huge amounts of debris littered the surrounding sidewalks and elevated tracks in the area. Thick smoke blankets the area like fog, and residents were urged to stay indoors and keep windows closed.

Windows of buildings in the area were blown out by the force of the blast, and the fire may have spread to other structures as well. Firefighters were dousing the site with water from ladder trucks.

Con Edison was also responding to shut off the gas.

Spanish Christian Church is on the ground floor at 1644, with Absolute Piano at 1646. The Spanish Christian Church has been at the location for decades.

The cause of the explosion is unknown at this time.

Metro North New Haven Line service into and out of Grand Central Terminal is temporarily suspended until further notice. Bus service is also affected, with M1, M102 and M116 buses being detoured.

St ay with 7online and watch live Eyewitness News coverage for the latest.

More & videos at link: http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local/new_york&id=9463294

Offline Gazoo

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Re: Large explosion, fire in East Harlem; at least 16 hurt
« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2014, 03:24:07 pm »
Two people dead. How horrifying.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ushome/index.html
« Last Edit: March 12, 2014, 04:45:54 pm by Gazoo »
"The Tea Party has a right to feel cheated.

When does the Republican Party, put in the majority by the Tea Party, plan to honor its commitment to halt the growth of the Federal monolith and bring the budget back into balance"?

Offline musiclady

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Re: Large explosion, fire in East Harlem; at least 16 hurt
« Reply #2 on: March 12, 2014, 03:28:52 pm »
Gas line caused explosion.

One fatality, expecting more.
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rangerrebew

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Re: Large explosion, fire in East Harlem; at least 16 hurt
« Reply #3 on: March 12, 2014, 04:33:34 pm »
I have to believe Obama is already on his way to Harlem to get a "personal update" on the damage - and have a photo op.

Offline Gazoo

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Re: Large explosion, fire in East Harlem; at least 16 hurt
« Reply #4 on: March 12, 2014, 04:35:12 pm »
I have to believe Obama is already on his way to Harlem to get a "personal update" on the damage - and have a photo op.

If he does, I hope the Reverend Manning stops him for an interview  :silly:
"The Tea Party has a right to feel cheated.

When does the Republican Party, put in the majority by the Tea Party, plan to honor its commitment to halt the growth of the Federal monolith and bring the budget back into balance"?

Offline Politics4us

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Re: Large explosion, fire in East Harlem; at least 16 hurt
« Reply #5 on: March 12, 2014, 05:32:39 pm »
There will probably be over 20 deaths from this.

Offline mountaineer

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Re: Large explosion, fire in East Harlem; at least 16 hurt
« Reply #6 on: March 12, 2014, 06:06:43 pm »
I have to believe Obama is already on his way to Harlem to get a "personal update" on the damage - and have a photo op.
First consideration: how to blame Republicans and/or Bush?

Quote
NEW YORK -- At least two people were killed and more than a dozen injured Wednesday when a gas leak triggered a "major explosion" that leveled two five-story buildings in East Harlem, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Both fatalities were women. The New York City fire department said more than 20 people were injured, including two with life-threatening injuries.

The FDNY said more than a dozen people were still missing. The mayor, speaking to reporters at the scene, said finding them is a top priority, but cautioned that many may have simply fled to safety.

Raphael Ruiz- Moran stood outside with other onlookers waiting to get what information he could. His uncle and other family members live about half a block from the scene and so far, he got no answer when he tried to call.

The buildings -- now flattened -- house a Spanish Christian Church and a piano repair store at the East Harlem address on Park Avenue between 114th street and 116th Street.

The mayor said the explosion occurred at 9:31 a.m. ET, only minutes before a Con Ed utilities team arrived on the scene to check on reports of a natural gas leak.

"This is a tragedy of the worst kind because there was no indication in time to save people," de Blasio said. "We have lost two people already."

He said there will be a thorough search of the rubble after the 200 firefighters bring the fire under control.

As residents gathered near the scene, white smoke billowed up from the debris in waves and left a chalky taste in the air. ...
Rest of story from USA Today

Rush joked that deBlasio said a white neighborhood in the Upper East Side would be blown up, just to keep it fair.
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Offline Chieftain

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Re: Large explosion, fire in East Harlem; at least 16 hurt
« Reply #7 on: March 12, 2014, 06:48:58 pm »
Good morning class, and welcome to "Fuel-Air Explosives 101"....

Prayers for the dead....


Offline Atomic Cow

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Re: Large explosion, fire in East Harlem; at least 16 hurt
« Reply #8 on: March 12, 2014, 11:04:21 pm »
3 now reported dead.
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Oceander

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Re: Large explosion, fire in East Harlem; at least 16 hurt
« Reply #9 on: March 12, 2014, 11:14:42 pm »
here's the sad thing:  those two now empty lots will probably be worth more than they were when they held two functional buildings

Offline mountaineer

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Re: Large explosion, fire in East Harlem; at least 16 hurt
« Reply #10 on: March 13, 2014, 12:21:45 am »
Hunter College cop among the dead in Harlem explosion
By Philip Messing, Kevin Fasick and Lorena Mongelli
March 12, 2014 | 7:30pm
NY Post

Hunter College cop Griselde Camacho hardly ever missed a day of work — even winning awards for her attendance. But asthma symptoms kept her home this week, including Wednesday — and the peace officer became one of at least three fatalities in the horrific Harlem building collapse.

“Everyone is shocked.” a fellow peace officer said as the sad news spread across the Upper East Side campus.

The other two victims had not been identified by Wednesday night.

“She was a great worker,” the co-worker said, declining to give her name.

In her eight years as a peace officer, Camacho had won multiple achievement awards — and, in 2010, got one for excellent attendance.

“Everyone liked her,” she said of Camacho, who is a former cop from Puerto Rico and a single mother of a 15-year-old son.

“She has a big heart.”

There were dozens more injured in the blast — including four children, one a 15-year-old with critical injuries. He suffered serious burns, broken bones and other internal injuries and was in surgery Wednesday night at Harlem Hospital.

“He did verbalize some things when he first came in but he was quite confused and severely injured,” said Dr. Reynold Trowers, Chief of Emergency at Harlem Hospital.

As of Wednesday night there were still seven residents of the two destroyed buildings that remained unaccounted for, including Carmen Tanco, 67, and Jordy Salas, 23.

“I keep calling her cell phone but it’s going straight to voicemail,” said Tanco’s worried niece Marisela Frias, 24.

“I feel numb, because at this point, the way I’m looking at it is, if she was OK, she would have registered by now, she would have seen the news and called family,” Frias said.

Salas was asleep in the second floor of 1644 Park Avenue along with his dog when the building fell, relatives said as they traveled from hospital to hospital in search of him.

Also missing is George Amadeo, 44, who was home on the fifth floor of 1646 Park Avenue during the collapse.

“All we can do is pray and wait,” said his sister, Jacqueline Garcia, as family members continued to call city hospitals.
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Offline mountaineer

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Re: Large explosion, fire in East Harlem; at least 16 hurt
« Reply #11 on: March 13, 2014, 12:39:31 pm »
New York Post:  Death toll hits 7 as residents reveal they smelled gas ‘for years’
Quote
...  Quande Thomas, 20, who lives next door to the blast site, said gas odors regularly permeated the neighborhood since work started on a new building nearby.
       
Said his sister, 23-year-old Keema Thomas, “For the past two years, we’ve been smelling gas in the building. And police from the 25th Precinct would come and evacuate it sometimes.

“They’ll say, ‘Yeah, we smell gas,’ or whatever the case is, but then they’d let us back in 10, 15 minutes later. And they’d say it’s fine. But we’ve definitely been smelling gas for a while now.

“If they’d dug a little deeper and found the leak, this could have been avoided,” Quande added ....

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Offline mountaineer

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Re: Large explosion, fire in East Harlem; at least 16 hurt
« Reply #12 on: March 14, 2014, 01:11:25 pm »
Teen critical after mother & sister die in blast
By Daniel Prendergast, Leonard Greene and Matt McNulty
March 14, 2014 | 1:15am
New York Post


Quote
Buried under the rubble, along with shattered bodies and valued possessions, was a young woman’s passionate dream.

Rosaura Hernandez wanted nothing more than to be a chef, sharing her love of life through her gift of food. But her plan was tragically cut short Wednesday when her East Harlem home building blew up, killing her, her mom and at least six others.

Hernandez, 21, was a line cook at the posh Triomphe Restaurant at the Iroquois Hotel in Midtown.

“Check me out having some fun at work,” she wrote on an Instagram photo taken in the Triomphe kitchen. “I love it because I have to challenge myself and always prove even being the only female that I can f–king handle it.”

Her mother, Rosaura Barrios, 44, perished with her in the rubble, and her brother, Oscar, 15, is in critical condition at Harlem Hospital.

Her friends and colleagues are heartbroken. “We are all devastated,” said Robert Holmes, general manager of the Iroquois, where Hernandez was scheduled to work a 2 p.m. shift Wednesday.

“We were impressed with her talent. The kitchen staff is a small and close-knit group. It’s a shame for her life to be cut so short. We really cherished having her.”

The aspiring chef’s Facebook page is filled with condolences and tributes from colleagues.

“I can’t believe my culinary mate Rosaura Hernandez passed away in that explosion,” wrote Nia Jones. “You were so young and passionate about the dream. Rest easy, my love.”

The family belonged to the storefront Spanish Christian Church, which was leveled in the explosion. The pastor, the Rev. Thomas Perez, spent Thursday at a makeshift shelter comforting survivors. He barely spoke above a whisper as he talked of the tragedy on Park Avenue and East 116th Street that claimed five of his parishioners.

“It’s difficult. It’s very sad for these families that have lost their loves ones, but we are praying for them,” he said. “I have no words to explain how I feel, but I know everything will be in God’s hands.”

Given the scope of the devastation, Perez said he was amazed that “only” five of his parishioners were killed in the two buildings — 1644 and 1646 Park Ave. —that were leveled.  He said of the explosion that it was “God’s will, though we don’t understand his doing.”

“With the blessing of the Lord, and with the help of all these gentlemen in the churches around us, we’re going to rebuild the church,” Perez added.

 Of the eight bodies pulled from the rubble, seven had been identified by Thursday night.

They included Greek national Andreas Panagopouolos, 43. Originally from Athens, he lived in one of the buildings for more than a decade with his wife, Lisbeth Perez, who was not at home at the time of the blast.

“I can’t go back to where we lived,” Perez told The Wall Street Journal. “It is too painful to go and see.”

The couple had been together for 13 years and married for eight. Panagopouolos had worked for a Web site from home.

“He was very smart and very Greek,” Perez said. “He was very proud of his heritage, and he went back every summer to see his family there.”

The body of George Amadeo, 42, also found in rubble, and was identified late Thursday night. He was home at the time of the blast, and was planning to help his 69-year-old mother, Carmen Pagan, move out of the apartment they shared at 1646 Park Ave. for the last six years.

Amadeo’s sister Jacqueline said that their mother was devastated.

“Our mother didn’t want to admit George was dead,” she said. “She didn’t believe us, but when she saw it on TV, she started crying immediately.”

Jacqueline, 48, was at the blast site on Thursday and held out hope until she was finally taken to identify Amadeo’s body.

“We’re still in denial, but at least there is closure,” she said Thursday night. “I just don’t understand why it happened. It will never make sense to me.”

Also identified as dead late Thursday was Alexis “Jordy” Salas, who attended John Jay College of Criminal Justice and worked in The Bronx. Salas’ wife is expecting their child.

“My sister is five months’ pregnant,” said Jessica Ortega, 22. “My sister is really upset. I just want to be strong for her.”

Salas’ grieving friend Alfredo Martinez, 22, of Yonkers, said he has was shocked as soon as he learned of the explosion.

“When I saw what happened on the news, I nearly had a heart attack,” he said. “I prayed to God that Jordy and his family weren’t hurt in the explosion.”

The names of the newly discovered dead join the growing list that includes dental hygienist Carmen Tanco, 67, who would travel to Third World countries on her vacations to help those in needs.

Also identified on Wednesday was Hunter College peace officer Griselde Camacho, 48, the single mother of a 15-year-old son.
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