Fire Breaks Out In Midtown Restaurant, 15 Injured, FDNY Says

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A fire broke out Tuesday afternoon in a restaurant a block away from Bryant Park, injuring 15 people, fire officials said.

The fire department got a call for a fire at 21 W. 39th Street, located between Fifth and Sixth avenues, around 4:13 p.m., an FDNY spokesman. The fire broke out in the kitchen of Szechuan Gourmet — a Chinese restaurant on the building's first floor — and spread to the ductwork and walls of the six-story building, fire officials said.

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The fire was placed under control shortly before 8 p.m., fire officials said. The blaze prompted a fourth-alarm response, which means more than 140 emergency personnel responded to the scene.

"We received a call for a fire and when we arrived it was very hot and smokey. This was a very stubborn fire," FDNY Chief of Department James Leonard said at the scene of the fire Tuesday.

Careless cooking at the restaurant Szechuan Gourment was blamed as the cause of the blaze, city fire marshals said. A smoke alarm was not present at the scene of the fire, officials said.

Fifteen people suffered injuries during the fire, fire officials said. Of those injured, 14 were firefighters and seven were seriously injured but taken to the hospital in stable condition, fire officials said. The firefighters suffered injuries caused by being struck with debris and heat exhaustion, officials said.

"The injuries were due to fallen debris and heat exhaustion, on a day like today these conditions are very difficult for the Firefighters," FDNY Chief of EMS James Booth said. "Everyone who is injured is stable at this time."

Witnesses reported seeing mostly smoke coming from the site of the fire, but one photo taken from a building on the opposite side of Bryant Park appeared to show flames coming from the West 39th Street building.

Lead photo by FDNY