One person was killed, and four city firefighters suffered minor injuries, after a four-alarm blaze sparked in an apartment at Trump Tower on Saturday, according to the FDNY.
The FDNY said it received an alert through an alarm company around 5:35 p.m. Saturday of a fire at the building on 5th Ave. near East 56th St. The alert did not come through a 911 call.
The fire started in an apartment on the building's 50th floor. Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said there were many pieces of furniture in the apartment, and the apartment was "virtually entirely on fire'' when firefighters.
Firefighters said they found a 67-year-old man, identified by the NYPD as Todd Brassner, unconscious in the apartment, and he was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Roosevelt Hospital. A neighbor and the FDNY said the man lived in the apartment. The neighbor said he lived alone and had a collection of beautiful guitars.
Property records obtained by The Associated Press indicate Brassner was an art dealer who had purchased his 50th-floor unit in 1996.
Two of the firefighters hurt were burned.
Smoke reached nearby residencies, officials said, but the flames did not.
The cause of the blaze, which was under control by 7:58 p.m., is not known at this time. The fire is under investigation.
The building was evacuated, as well as the immediate area, but by 8 p.m. some residents were allowed back into Trump Tower.
President Trump's business is based at Trump Tower and his residence is there, but he has spent little time in the city since taking office.
No members of the First Family were in the building, Nigro said. Members of the FDNY went up with Secret Service to check on Trump's residence.
Some smoke reached the rest of the building, but it is not clear if it affected the First Family's residence. Nigro said some smoke usually reaches the floors above a fire.
The fire department was originally reported as a two-alarm blaze. More than 200 firefighters and EMTs responded to the blaze, searching many floors and stairways.
Some roads around Trump Tower have been closed. As of 7:31 p.m., 5th Ave. between 55th and 57th Streets, and 56th St. between 5th Ave. and Madison Ave. were closed.
The fire commissioner said the blaze proved to be a difficult because it was so high up, as the building contains the heat, including the apartment in which the blaze sparked.
Nigro said the upper floors of Trump Tower, which contain apartments, do not have sprinklers.
Photo above via the FDNY on Twitter.