Hotel St George 18 Alarms BrooklynFDNY, Fires, St George Hotel, 18 Alarms, Fire, Landmarked, partial
by Steven Spak
Title
Hotel St George 18 Alarms BrooklynFDNY, Fires, St George Hotel, 18 Alarms, Fire, Landmarked, partial
Artist
Steven Spak
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
The Hotel St. George had seen better days. It had once been one of the better hotels in New York. It was built in 1885 with the added Tower section completed in 1929. Over its recent history parts of the hotel were converted to residential use. The 31 story Tower and the Crosshall and Pineapple buildings are now condominiums. The Henry Street building remained a hotel, about half of the 80 residents were homeless or aids patients who were put up by city agencies. The Clark Street building was vacant. The building had been boarded up on the lower floors to prevent vandalism, but it did not stop vandals from entering the building from other places. There were numerous holes in the floors creating numerous voids in the building. The standpipe system had parts removed by vandals who stripped the plumbing and anything of value in the vacant hotel. It was August 1995. The North Eastern part of the country was experiencing a drought. The humidity was very low, the surrounding brush were bone dry creating numerous brush fires. Suffolk County firefighters were fighting numerous record setting brush fires for several days. Numerous mutual aid responded to help out. On August 24th 1995, the FDNY sent 10 Engine companies and 2 chiefs to help out. At 03:31 hours a phone alarm was received reporting smoke in the area of the St. George Hotel. Engine 224, 207, 226 ladder 118, 110 and Battalion 31 responded. When units arrived nothing was showing. While units were searching the area in around the hotel, the 31 Battalion asked the dispatcher for a verification of the phone alarm. Meanwhile roof man firefighter Ed Green Ladder 118 went to the roof of the hotel on Henry Street. Looking down the block firefighter Green could see the glow from a small fire coming out the top floors of the vacant Clark Street building.Firefighter Green immediately radioed to the 31 Battalion of the location of the fire. Battalion Chief David Maxwell ( who was working his last tour prior to his retirement) transmitted a signal 10-75 for a working fire. Units repositioned their rigs and began to remove the boarded up doors and windows at the Clark Street building. Handlines were stretched into the sprinkler system and roll ups were brought into the building. The numerous holes and voids and the bone dry conditions caused the fire to gain enormous headway. The standpipe system was not operational and handlines had to be stretched via the exterior of the building. The fire grew so fast that firefighters were literally chased out of the building. Tower ladders were set up and 2nd, 3rd, 4th alarms were quickly transmitted. It was a warm summer night and a lot people had their windows open. The flames and brands were shooting up over the 31 story tower building. All of the surrounding exposures were threatened. A 5th alarms was transmitted followed by an addition alarm for brand patrol. A 3rd alarm was transmitted for the exposure building on Pineapple Street near the water tower that was burning on the roof. The area around the St George Hotel had narrow Streets with tall buildings. While responding to the fire it looked incredible from the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. When I arrived at the scene it was tough to see the fire because of the narrow streets. I could see the flying brands, It was incredible. I went to the roof of the 6 story building across the street from the Clark Street building. The Clark Street building was 9 stories so it was still hard to see the fire. I walked around the perimeter of the block long hotel complex. I could not get a good vantage point for photos. I walked back to Cadman Plaza where there was a huge apartment complex about 31 stories high. I took the elevator up to the top floor and then the stairway to the roof. I remember walking over a man who was sleeping in the stairwell.(Perhaps his wife threw him out of the house) When I opened the door to the roof, WOW, what a view of the fire! The flames and brands were towering over the 31 story Tower building like a fireplace flume. There were numerous fires burning in the exposures which required numerous alarms. There were 7 apartments that were fully involved in the Tower building on 8 different floors, each requiring an all hands assignment of at least 3 engines and 2 ladder companies. In all it took appox. 18 Alarms worth of companies to bring this fire under control.
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March 2nd, 2020
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