A holiday market in the heart of Manhattan went up in flames, leaving vendors to pick up their burnt merchandise and clean up their torched booths.
The fire broke out at the holiday market in Herald Square, off Broadway between 35th and 36th streets, around 4 a.m. Monday, according to fire officials. A row of booths were destroyed by the fire, leaving charred remnants at the market that opened just 10 days before, on Dec. 6.
About five dozen fire and EMS personnel responded to the scene near the Macy's flagship store, a popular destination around the holidays. A firefighter suffered serious injuries and was taken to NYU Langone Hospital, the FDNY said, but was expected to recover.
The fire was under control just after 5 a.m. In all, 18 booths were impacted — each of which have insurance to cover what was lost, but the shop owners are still trying to process what happened.
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A torched refrigerator could be seen in the middle of burnt sticks. It belonged to Kelli Lipson, the owner of Spoonable Spirits, a company that sells liquor-infused desserts. What was a bright pink booth decorated in giant sprinkles was left in ruins.
"I was like where is my booth, I don't understand where my booth is. It's literally gone," Lipson said. "All the hard work gone. I feel awful for the market organizers too, they work on these for so long and I think they wanted to prove Macy’s could be the next big holiday market.”
The company that runs the market, Urban Space, said in a statement to NBC New York "Our commitment to supporting the incredible small business vendors who make this market special remains unwavering. We are currently coordinating with each impacted vendor to explore ways to help them during this critical time.”
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Several booths on the northern end of the market near Macy's were completely destroyed. A number of propane tanks damaged by the fire were at the scene as well.
"We have invested so much money here as did everyone else here so its heartbreaking that this happened, you know and we are nearing the end to Christmas," said Rachelle Saberon, who lost her Filipino pork belly booth, Patok.
It was not immediately clear what may have sparked the blaze. An investigation by FDNY fire marshals was ongoing.
The southern end of the market was open Monday, but it was not clear whether the side impacted heavily by the fire would reopen before the end of the holiday season.
