By Colin Mixson
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — Firefighters battled through burning debris and whipping winds to extinguish a four-alarm blaze that erupted inside a Brooklyn warehouse on Wednesday.
The inferno ignited inside the warehouse on the Columbia St. Esplanade in Red Hook around 12:38 p.m. — just steps away from the nearby NYPD impound lot that suffered extensive damage due to fires in 2024 and 2022, according to FDNY Chief of Operations Kevin Woods .
The blaze was initially confined to three bays within the massive 100,000-square-foot facility, but high winds spread burning embers throughout the building, leading to damage in 10 of the warehouse’s 25 bays, Woods told reporters at the scene.
“It was an extremely difficult operation,” the chief said. “Obstacles getting in the way always affect firefighter operations. It’s a very dangerous job and a very physically demanding job.”
More than 200 firefighters and paramedics joined in the operation, with the fire declared under control shortly after 3 p.m. , an FDNY spokesman said.
The warehouse contained a variety of goods and materials, including refrigerated foods, household items and manufacturing products, Woods said.
A business owner affected by the fire said that virtually all materials stored in Bays 8 to 15 were destroyed, either consumed by the blaze or soaked by water in the firefighting operation.
The truss system supporting the building’s roof was also severely damaged in the blaze, Wood said.
The nearby Erie Basin Auto Pound , where the NYPD impounds vehicles involved in criminal investigations, was damaged by multiple fires in recent years, including a 2022 blaze sparked by a lithium-ion battery that destroyed a massive collection of DNA evidence.
In addition to holding all illegal dirt bikes and ATVs seized by the city, that building stores “biological evidence” — clothing and other items that were tested for DNA.
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