A man was critically injured after a fire erupted in an apartment at Trump Tower in Midtown on Saturday evening, the FDNY said. (Update: Authorities later said the man died and that six firefighters were injured.)
What to Know
A fire broke out at an apartment on the 50th floor of Trump Tower Saturday evening
A 67-year-old man in the apartment died; the Trumps were not in the building at the time
The FDNY commissioner says six firefighters were injured and that the cause of the fire is not yet known
A man died after a fire erupted in an apartment on the 50th floor of Trump Tower in Midtown on Saturday evening, authorities say.
The FDNY said six firefighters suffered burns and other non-life-threatening injuries in addition to the 67-year-old man, a resident of the apartment who had been in critical condition following the blaze. The NYPD identified him late Saturday as Todd Brassner, an art collector who knew Andy Warhol and had fallen on hard times.
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A firefighter works in front of Trump Tower after a fire in New York, Saturday, April 7, 2018. The Fire Department says a blaze broke out on the 50th floor shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
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First responders assess the scene of a fire at Trump Tower on April 7, 2018, in New York City.
AP Photo/Andres Kudacki
Firefighters work in front of Trump Tower in New York on Saturday, April 7, 2018, after battling a fire. The Fire Department says a blaze broke out on the 50th floor shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday.
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First responders assess the scene of a fire at Trump Tower on April 7, 2018, in New York City.
AP
A firefighter works in front of Trump Tower after a fire in New York, Saturday, April 7, 2018. The Fire Department says a blaze broke out on the 50th floor shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday.
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Broken and burned windows are seen after a fire broke out on the 50th floor of Trump Tower on April 7, 2018, in New York City.
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
Fire damage scars the side of Trump Tower Saturday, April 7, 2018, in New York.
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
Water pours from the window of a fire damaged apartment in Trump Tower Saturday, April 7, 2018, in New York.
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This photo shows the raging fire at Trump Tower in New York City on April 7, 2018. Another fire broke out at Trump Tower in January 2018 as well, and three people were injured.
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A fire broke out at Trump Tower in New York City on Saturday, April 7, 2018.
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John Walker
A fire broke out on the 50th floor of Trump Tower the evening of April 7. President Trump tweeted that the fire was knocked down around 6:45 p.m.
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The president and his family were not in New York when the fire broke out. One person died and at least six firefighters sustained minor injuries.
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Large crowds massed along Fifth Avenue as the fire raged.
— Peter Thomas Roth (@PeterThomasRoth) April 7, 2018
Firefighters responded to an automatic alarm after the fire broke out in a large apartment on the 50th floor of the tower, FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said at a press conference.
A barrage of fire trucks could be seen surrounding the Fifth Avenue building shortly after the fire started shortly before 6 p.m. Nigro said about 200 firefighters battled the blaze. Videos on social media show thick, black smoke and flames rising from the building as people watch below.
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An Italian immigrant woman carrying a bundle of clothes in Manhattan in 1910. Many young women from Italy worked in New York's garment industry, including at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.
Lewis Hine/Kheel Center and Archives/Cornell University Library
A typical garment sweatshop circa the early 1900s. Many of the shops didn't have fire escapes or adequate exits, among other dangerous safety issues. Employees would often work more than 50 hours a week without overtime pay.
George Grantham Bain Collection/Library of Congress
The Asch Building (now the Brown Building), where the Triangle Shirtwaist Company was located, in March 1911.
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A photo of the fire published in The New York World newspaper and other publications on March 26, 1911, shows firefighters and bystanders powerless below the conflagration.
Kheel Center and Archives/Cornell University Library
Firefighters battle the blaze at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory on the late afternoon of March 25, 1911.
George Grantham Bain Collection/Library of Congress
Horse-drawn fire engines head to the Triangle Shirtwaist Company inferno as word spread.
George Grantham Bain Collection/Library of Congress
Firemen stand outside after searching for bodies at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company.
The Pensacola Journal/Library of Congress
Police take down descriptions of the dead.
George Grantham Bain Collection/Library of Congress
A crowd of people outside the pier morgue, where bodies were held on March 26, 1911, a day after the inferno.
George Grantham Bain Collection/Library of Congress
Crowds of people outside the pier morgue on March 26, 1911.
Library of Congress
The sweatshop fire was one of the biggest news stories in New York history. Its ramifications were felt across the city, state and nation for decades.
Library of Congress
The front page of the newspaper, Il progresso Italo-Americano, after the tragedy. It includes a list of the Italian-American victims, a drawing of a victim, and a photograph by police. Many of the victims were young Italian immigrant women.
Brown Brothers/New York Public Library
Published images show the destruction left behind in the factory after the fire quickly spread, trapping dozens of people inside.
Brown Brothers/New York Public Library
The garments in the factory accelerated the flames. The smoke was so heavy it could be seen all around Manhattan.
Brown Brothers/New York Public Library
The Asch Building's only fire escape was destroyed by fleeing workers and by the intensity of the flames pouring out windows.
George Grantham Bain Collection/Library of Congress
A crowd gathers at Washington Square a day later, on March 26, 1911. The square is just a block away from the site of the factory.
Wurt Bros/Museum of the City of New York
The inside of the Asch Building on March 30, 1911, less than a week after it was gutted by the fire.
Wurt Bros/Museum of the City of New York
The inside of the Asch Building on March 30, 1911, less than a week after it was gutted by the fire.
US National Archives & Records
A demonstration of protest and mourning held on April 5, 1911, for victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.
George Grantham Bain Collection/Library of Congress
A trade union procession in April 1911 in memory of the fire victims.
George Grantham Bain Collection/Library of Congress
The trade union procession near Washington Square in April 1911.
George Grantham Bain Collection/Library of Congress
The trade union May Day parade passes the corner of 13th and University Place on May 2, 1911, less than two months after the tragedy. The parade paid tribute to the victims of the fire. One sign in Yiddish reads "146" for the number of people killed — 123 women and 23 men.
Edmund Vincent Gillon/Museum of the City of New York
The Brown Building (formerly the Asch Building) in 1975. The building still stands at Washington Place and Greene Street, a block away from Washington Square. It belongs to New York University.
Nigro said "the apartment was virtually, entirely on fire" when firefighters arrived. Neighbors said Brassner had an extensive guitar collection in the apartment, and the Associated Press reported he was an art dealer who had purchased his 50th-floor apartment in 1996.
Brassner is mentioned several times in Andy Warhol's posthumously published diaries, with references including lunch dates and shared taxis. The artist signed and dedicated at least one print to him. But in recent years, Brassner came upon money difficulties and was "plagued with debilitating medical problems."
Shortly before 8 p.m., the FDNY tweeted that the fire was under control.
Three firefighters were taken to hospital with minor injuries, while three more were treated at the scene. Nigro said the cause of the inferno was not yet known.
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President Donald Trump has an office and a penthouse home in the building, but he was not in New York on Saturday. Nigro said the Secret Service checked the president's residence at some point and that there was no fire damage.
Trump reacted to the fire on Twitter, saying: "Fire at Trump Tower is out. Very confined (well built building). Firemen (and women) did a great job. THANK YOU!" (By 11 a.m. Sunday, he had not mentioned Brassner's passing on Twitter, though he had tweeted about a half-dozen times since his death was confirmed.)
Melania Trump and the couple's son, Barron Trump, were both in Washington, D.C., according to the first lady's spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham.
"The Secret Service can confirm that no protectees or members of the First Family were present at the time of the fire," a Secret Service spokesman told NBC News. "Ongoing Secret Service security operations remain in place. There have been no injuries to any Secret Service personnel."
Trump's son, Eric Trump, also took to Twitter to thank firefighters and police for their quick response.
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FDNY crews quickly work to put out the fire.
Sion Fullana / FDNY (inset)
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Old cars on the scene of the fire that were being used on the set of the "Motherless Brooklyn" that was being filmed at the location.
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A couple of FDNY firefighters on scene that killed one of their own.
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Witnesses gasp in shock at the scene of the fire in Harlem.
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Large flames shoot out of the Harlem buidling.
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Smoke pours from the windows of the building.
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First responders at the scene as the flames are dosed by firefighters.
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Firefighters team up to quickly extinguish the inferno.
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FDNY firefighters in a ladder dosing the flames.
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A massive firefighter response as they work to get the flames under control.
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Firefighters spray the flames in Harlem that killed one of their own.
Andrea Leoni/AFP via Getty Images
More FDNY firefigjters dose the flames to get the fire under control.
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Witnesses at the scene watch as the building burns.
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Bright flames are seen jumping from the building in Harlem.
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Massive flames and thick smoke filled the air as FDNY firefighters battled the blaze.
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"Thank you to the amazing men and women of the NYFD who extinguished a fire in a residential apartment at @TrumpTower. The @FDNY and @NYPD are truly some of the most incredible people anywhere!"
New York Senator Chuck Schumer also reacted to the fire on Twitter, writing: "Thinking tonight of those lost and injured in the fire that broke out in Trump Tower today, and incredibly thankful to the @FDNY for their work that kept more NYers from harm."
According to the city's Department of Buildings, there have been no complaints in the past year and a half about any fire issues at Trump Tower.
"It's a well-built building. The upper floors, the residence floors, are not sprinklered," Commissioner Nigro said at the press conference.
Fire sprinklers were not required in New York City high-rises when Trump Tower was completed in 1983. Subsequent updates to the building code required commercial skyscrapers to install the sprinklers retroactively, but owners of older residential high-rises are not required to install sprinklers unless the building undergoes major renovations.
Some fire-safety advocates pushed for a requirement that older apartment buildings be retrofitted with sprinklers when New York City passed a law requiring them in new residential highrises in 1999, but officials in the administration of then-mayor Rudy Giuliani said that would be too expensive.
It's not the first fire at Trump Tower this year. In January, three people were injured when a fire broke out in a cooling unit on the roof deck of the building. That fire also sent smoke billowing over Midtown.
Fire at Trump Tower is out. Very confined (well built building). Firemen (and women) did a great job. THANK YOU!
