Burned-Out LIC Warehouse Must Be Torn Down After Huge Fire, City Says

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Weeks after it was gutted by a huge fire, a Long Island City warehouse building must be torn down due to a risk of collapse, the city says.

The one-story industrial building at 47-46 30th St., between 47th and 48th avenues, was home to a commercial laundromat when it erupted in flames in the early morning hours of Oct. 18.

It took 168 firefighters more than four hours to bring the fire under control, authorities said. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries battling the blaze.

On Friday, the building's owner, listed as David Yip of NYRS Properties, filed plans to demolish the building.

That came after inspectors from the Department of Buildings ordered the owners to set up a fence around the building and then tear it down "in the interest of public safety," agency spokesperson Andrew Rudansky told Patch.

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"Most of the building had already been destroyed by the fire, and the exterior walls that remained were unbraced, with the risk of potential collapse," Rudansky said.

The FDNY did not respond to questions Tuesday about whether the cause of the fire had been determined, though the agency said last month that it was investigating.

FDNY deputy assistant chief Chuck Downey told reporters at the scene that firefighters had encountered "heavy fire conditions," forcing them to retreat from the warehouse and battle the blaze from the outside.

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