posted May 03, 2006 10:18 AM              

It was huge.

The blaze engulfed several buildings and wharfs along the East River, and could be seen for miles.

Firefighters perched on a ladder spray water onto the flames. Eight firefighters were injured battling the blaze, and two were taken to a nearby hospital.

Bebeto Matthews, AP
The city's fire commissioner called the fire the largest in the city in more than a decade, excluding the World Trade Center attack.

New York City firefighters battle the eight-alarm fire at a warehouse complex in Brooklyn.

New York City Blaze Called Biggest Since 9/11
By RICHARD PYLE, AP

NEW YORK (May 3) - Firefighters continued early Wednesday to battle a massive warehouse fire in Brooklyn at a historic waterfront complex containing a building once home to the world's largest rope factory.

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Department historian John Mulligan said the fire was the biggest - exclusive of the World Trade Center - since a 19-alarm fire at Brooklyn's St. George Hotel in 1995.

The 10-alarm blaze broke out at about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday and had not been brought under control more than 20 hours later. Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said it would be investigated as possible arson.

Plumes of smoke, smelling at times of wood, rose in a huge black cloud visible for miles.

Fourteen firefighters suffered minor injuries, no civilians were hurt and there was no need to evacuate the area, authorities said.

"A block away, you could feel the heat."
-Filip Mielnicki

Fire officials said the warehouse complex on West Street between Quay and Noble streets - measuring 200 feet by 800 feet - was officially unoccupied, though it was unclear whether squatters were living there.

The ruined warehouse complex was part of an area marked for redevelopment as high-rise housing. The fire consumed part of the former Greenpoint Terminal Market, which had been proposed for city landmark status and once home to the rope maker, American Manufacturing Company.

Greenpoint is now home to many Polish immigrants.

"A block away, you could feel the heat," said Filip Mielnicki, 17, a neighborhood resident watching the blaze with his friend, 18-year-old Wojciech Wasilewski.

The two, students at Manhattan's High School for Environmental Studies, said they had often "hung out" in the warehouse that caved in. It contained a lot of old clothing and boxes of blank checks but was otherwise unused, Mielnicki said.

05-03-06 06:26 EDT