Trump Tower fire: Man dies in blaze at New York property - BBC News

April 8, 2018
Trump Tower fire: Man dies in blaze at New York property

Trump Tower fire: 'You got to get out'
One man has died and four firefighters have been injured in a blaze at Trump Tower in New York.

The victim was a male resident of the building who died after being taken to hospital, fire officials said.

US President Donald Trump has a home and an office in the building. But Mr Trump, First Lady Melania and their son Barron are currently in Washington DC.

The fire erupted on the 50th floor of the high-rise, which contains apartments and office space.

The cause of the blaze has not yet been released.

FDNY
✔
@FDNY
 #FDNY members remain on scene of a 4-alarm fire, 721 5th Ave in Manhattan. There is currently one serious injury to a civilian reported. (Photo credit: @nycoem)

8:56 AM - Apr 8, 2018

Thick black smoke and fire was seen coming from the skyscraper at around 18:00 (2200 GMT).

Around 45 minutes later - before news of the death emerged - the president tweeted that the fire was out. He said it had been "very confined" as the tower is a "well-built building".

Donald J. Trump
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@realDonaldTrump
 Fire at Trump Tower is out. Very confined (well built building). Firemen (and women) did a great job. THANK YOU!

8:42 AM - Apr 8, 2018

Shortly afterwards the Commissioner of the New York City Fire Department, Daniel Nigro, warned that the situation was "still not considered to be under control" due to "a considerable amount of smoke" in the building.

"We found fire on the 50th floor of the building. The apartment was entirely on fire. Members pushed in heroically, they were knocking down the fire and found one occupant of the apartment who is in critical condition," the fire service quoted him as saying.

"This was a very difficult fire. As you can imagine, the apartment is quite large, we are 50 storeys up.

"We had many floors to search, and stairways."

He said that the apartment had no sprinklers. Owners of older residential high-rises such as Trump Tower are not required to install sprinklers unless the building undergoes major renovation, according to the Associated Press.

Streets surrounding the building in Midtown Manhattan were closed off during the fire. Some 200 fire personnel responded to the incident, which the fire department tweeted had been brought under control.