Photos from the Greenpoint Brooklyn Fire

This story is supplement the AP story already published. I was at this fire. Bystanders took thousands of photos. I was disappointed to see a film landmark burn. There are only a few warehouses still standing so the same one with its photogenic walkways is in all of the movies and music videos. It was best used in the film "8 MM."
The fire was first reported shortly after 5 AM as New Yorkers were waking to smoke their first cigarette and walk their little dogs. This fire is suspicious because it burned so hot so long. The smoke had a pervasive yellow color.
Fire crews from many, if not all of the boroughs, used tower trucks to contain the blaze to the block. As the fire grew firefighters withdrew from areas prone to collapse. Anything that fell from the fire continued to burn. A piece of burning material fell near a parking lot of rental trucks, igniting it until the cab was full of flames.
The arson motive would have to be condo development. Developers have been calling for demolition of these blocks of warehouses. The Williamsburg/ Greenpoint area is undergoing a housing boom favoring the developers. Urban renewal on this level hasn't been seen since NYC was re-envisioned as a traffic jam that introduced widespread blight to the Bronx. This mixed industrial/residential area is still the site of an underground toxic waste spill owned by Exxon/Mobil. This residential area has been growing as a toxic waste site since the Civil War ironclad, USS Monitor, was built here.
Parking is at a premium in New York. Industrial facilities need parking street side during the day. They have a good deal with the Sanitation Department. Industrial areas get their street cleaning twice a week from midnight to 3 AM. Some people arrive shortly after 3 AM for a space, even if it means setting a second alarm clock.
Two cars parked across from the building on West Street faced very different fates. When the entire brick wall on West Street came down, a wave of 19th Century bricks flowed over most of the block. Some flowed under a gold car raising it up as others went through the rear window and pounded the passenger side. The second car, a blue one, remained pristine. It was parked under the industrial walkway from one warehouse to another. If the northeast corner of the warehouse came down, the walkway would crush the blue car thoroughly. It survived.