What appears to be a residential apartment building housing a church and a piano store on the first floor at the corner of 116th and Park Avenue in Harlem exploded and collapsed around 9:30 EST this morning. Teams of NYC firefighters are now battling what CNN is reporting as a five alarm fire.
Reports the New York Times:
Witnesses reported hearing what sounded like an explosion before the building collapsed. Flames and smoke could be seen billowing from the street, and video from the scene showed broken windows in neighboring buildings.
Here’s a photo someone posted to Twitter. More photos and reports from Twitter can be found at the #explosion116 hashtag.
And another…
And here’s a live feed of the local news coverage of the event…
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