A three-alarm, late-morning blaze in a Brooklyn Navy Yard building sent bricks and glass smashing to the ground yesterday, injuring six firefighters.
The fire wasn’t expected to delay plans to expand a movie studio at the seven-story structure.
Flames erupted at about noon on the third and fifth floors of the building, which is being prepared for renovations.
The blaze appeared to have been sparked by welders on the third floor and quickly spread to the fourth floor, said Assistant Fire Chief Edward Kilduff.
“Flames were coming out, and then the bricks started falling,” said security guard Anthony Glasper, who works for the building’s owner, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp.
Firefighters initially battled the blaze from inside, but mazelike conditions and poor lighting forced them to retreat, Kilduff said.
Even after firefighters doused the flames, smoke continued to plume from the building.
It took about an hour for the 138 firefighters called to the scene to extinguish the blaze. Six were hurt, including four taken to a hospital with smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion.
Some firefighters were worried about the building’s asbestos, but Kilduff said it was not a danger.
“It was double-checked by [the Department of Environmental Protection], and there was no asbestos issue whatsoever,” he said.
The blaze was the second reported at the Navy Yard in four days.
The two “were completely unrelated,” Kilduff said.
Nonetheless, he said the Fire Department would discuss safety issues with the Navy Yard company to make sure “we’re on the same page.”
The World War II-era building has been vacant for 15 years. It’s undergoing interior demolition as part of a project to expand Steiner Studios, which has a building next door and will grow to occupy 36 acres of the Navy Yard.
“This is not going to affect our schedule,” said studio chairman Douglas Steiner, who expects the $50 million project to be completed next year.
The building that was the site of yesterday’s fire is to become studio space, as well as facilities for animation, wardrobe and pre- and postproduction work.
Additional reporting by Peter Kadushin, John Doyle and Bill Sanderson