Firefighters are battling a four-alarm fire at a warehouse in Brooklyn this morning. Update 10:45 a.m.: The fire is now a five-alarm fire. Update 12:23 p.m.: The FDNY just called a sixth alarm. Update 2:49 p.m.: The fire is now 7 alarms.

According to the FDNY, they got a call at 6:28 a.m. about a fire at 5 North 11th Street (at Kent Avenue). The address is for CitiStorage, a record storage facility.

A five-alarm fire means that there are 20 engine trucks and 11 ladder trucks, plus 6 battalion chiefs, a rescue team and many others on the scene. FDNY has fireboats on the scene, too.



Click for bigger image—photograph by Sheldon Chow

Notify NYC warns, "Emergency personnel are on the scene of a four alarm fire located at North 11th Street and Kent Avenue in Brooklyn. Expect traffic delays and a presence of emergency personnel and vehicles in the vicinity. Residents in northern Brooklyn, Manhattan, northwestern Queens, and southern Bronx may see or smell smoke."

The Daily News reports, "The nearby Star Energy oil refinery was evacuated as a precaution, sources said."



GIF by Jackson Snellings/Brooklyn Research

Update 12:23 p.m.: The FDNY is still battling the fire, which is now at six alarms. This means there are four more engine trucks and two more ladder trucks on the scene (24 engine trucks and 13 ladder trucks).

One issue is the cold weather:

Hydrant at the 5-alarm warehouse fire in Brooklyn. FDNY dealing with high-winds & freezing temperatures. pic.twitter.com/iIF8SAZfgD — FDNY (@FDNY) January 31, 2015

Just landed at LaGuardia. Here's the Brooklyn fire from the air. Smoke trails forever pic.twitter.com/NOjGjOWkZn — Gary He (@garyhe) January 31, 2015 what in science explains this fireman's hat at the fire in williamsburg pic.twitter.com/9u2VqEXTfC — Taylor J. Wofford (@taylorjwofford) January 31, 2015

The land that the warehouse is on was once valued at $100 million when the city wanted to acquire it for the Bushwick Inlet Park.

Update 2:49 p.m.: The fire is now at seven alarms—28 engine trucks and 15 ladder trucks are on the scene. The NY Times reports, "Firefighters were called for a small fire at the building around 4:30 a.m. and declared it under control. The larger fire was spotted about two hours later; it was not known if the two fires were related."

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