As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, New York City officials had established a \u201cfrozen zone\u201d around a building at 235 East 42nd Street as a precautionary measure after the structure, which was being converted from offices to apartments, showed signs of being unstable and at risk of partial collapse. <\/p>\n
The zone extended from 40th Street to 45th Street and from First Avenue to Third Avenue in Manhattan, with vehicle and pedestrian traffic halted in the area. Those were the zone\u2019s dimensions earlier in the day before it was briefly shrunk in the late afternoon. <\/p>\n
Inspectors with the New York City Buildings Department and Fire Department were going through the zone building by building to assess conditions in the area, determine whether other streets might need to be closed and decide whether people who had been evacuated could return, a spokesman for Mayor Zohran Mamdani said. <\/p>\n
Only emergency workers essential to shoring up the building were being allowed into the area, a Police Department spokesman said. Police officers were escorting people who needed to get essential items from buildings in the zone, the spokesman said.<\/p>\n
Here is what else to know.<\/p>\n
What is a frozen zone?<\/p>\n
Joseph Esposito, the Fire Department\u2019s chief of department, said at a news conference that in addition to the frozen zone, officials had created a \u201ccollapse zone,\u201d which the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health<\/a> recommends \u201cwhen there is potential for a structural collapse during firefighting operations.\u201d<\/p>\n The institute defines such a zone as an area \u201caround the perimeter of a structure that could contain debris if the building collapsed,\u201d and it is often equal to one-and-a-half times the structure\u2019s height.<\/p>\n How is public transportation affected?<\/p>\n The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced that buses operating on or around Second Avenue were delayed or had been diverted because of street closings near the damaged building.<\/p>\n