{"id":108071,"date":"2026-01-22T02:42:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T02:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/108071\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T02:42:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T02:42:24","slug":"fire-rips-through-red-hook-brooklyn-warehouse-steps-from-nypd-auto-pound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/108071\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire rips through Red Hook, Brooklyn, warehouse steps from NYPD auto pound"},"content":{"rendered":"

Firefighters battled through burning debris and whipping winds to extinguish a four-alarm blaze that erupted inside a Brooklyn warehouse on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The inferno ignited inside the warehouse on the Columbia St. Esplanade in Red Hook around 12:38 p.m. \u2014 just steps away from the nearby NYPD impound lot that suffered extensive damage due to fires in 2024<\/a> and 2022<\/a>, according to FDNY Chief of Operations Kevin Woods<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The blaze was initially confined to three bays within the massive 100,000-square-foot facility, but high winds spread burning embers throughout the building, leading to damage in 10 of the warehouse\u2019s 25 bays, Woods told reporters at the scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an extremely difficult operation,\u201d the chief said. \u201cObstacles getting in the way always affect firefighter operations. It\u2019s a very dangerous job and a very physically demanding job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FirefightersFirefighters battle a large warehouse fire on Columbia St. in Red Hook, Brooklyn, on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (Gardiner Anderson \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

More than 200 firefighters and paramedics joined in the operation, with the fire declared under control shortly after 3 p.m., an FDNY spokesman said.<\/p>\n

The warehouse contained a variety of goods and materials, including refrigerated foods, household items and manufacturing products, Woods said.<\/p>\n

\"FirefightersFirefighters battle a large warehouse fire on Columbia St. in Red Hook, Brooklyn, on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (Gardiner Anderson \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

A business owner affected by the fire said that virtually all materials stored in Bays 8 to 15 were destroyed, either consumed by the blaze or soaked by water in the firefighting operation.<\/p>\n

The truss system supporting the building\u2019s roof was also severely damaged in the blaze, Wood said.<\/p>\n

\"FirefightersFirefighters battle a large warehouse fire on Columbia St. in Red Hook, Brooklyn, on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (Gardiner Anderson \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

The nearby Erie Basin Auto Pound, where the NYPD impounds vehicles involved in criminal investigations, was damaged by multiple fires in recent years, including a 2022 blaze sparked by a lithium-ion battery that destroyed a massive collection of DNA evidence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In addition to holding all illegal dirt bikes and ATVs seized by the city, that building stores \u201cbiological evidence\u201d \u2014 clothing and other items that were tested for DNA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Firefighters battled through burning debris and whipping winds to extinguish a four-alarm blaze that erupted inside a Brooklyn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,12,63,261,265],"class_list":{"0":"post-108071","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-brooklyn","9":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","10":"tag-brooklyn-news","11":"tag-city","12":"tag-county","13":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","14":"tag-latest-headlines","15":"tag-local-news","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-city","18":"tag-new-york-county","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-nyc","21":"tag-nyc-crime","22":"tag-sub-county-region"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}