Thanks to Twitter user cmerry, who sent along this IPhone image captured by her partner Rick earlier this evening. A few new details to pass along this evening. First, eight firefighters suffered minor injuries while fighting the blaze at 240 East Houston Street this afternoon. According to the Times, the building has about 20 residents but only about half of the apartments were occupied.
Among the residents displaced: Trigger, the well-known owner of famed East Village bar, The Continental. He was a popular guy earlier this evening with television crews, as you can see from the photo we snapped on the southeast corner of Houston and Essex. In an interview with WNYC, Trigger said:
“… all residents on the fifth floor (where he lives) have access to roof decks, so he initially grabbed a fire extinguisher to check out the scene… The door to the roof was completely ablaze… It was like out of the movies…”
Red Cross officials were working tonight to find temporary shelter for the displaced residents.
EV Grieve surveyed the scene this evening. Ground floor tenants Kelly’s Bar and Discovery Wines were closed. The Double Down Saloon was also shuttered, but it had apparently been closed for renovations before the fire. And Grieve reports:
…the one place that I thought would be closed, was open… Houston Deli & Grocery on the corner… According to the manager, “We were very lucky,” he said. “But I don’t know for how long. At any minute, water could come through the ceiling.”
