One killed in apartment fire at Trump Tower

Building also houses president’s penthouse, Trump organisation HQ

NEW YORK: One man was killed and six fire-fighters received minor injuries in an apartment fire on the 50th floor of Trump Tower in New York on Saturday, in a blaze that was quickly extinguished, fire officials said. The victim, Todd Brassner, 67, was found unresponsive and unconscious in his 50th floor apartment and was pronounced dead at an area hospital, police said.

No information about the cause of the fire was available late Saturday night. US President Donald Trump, who has an office and a private residence in the midtown Manhattan structure, was not in the building at the time.

“Fire at Trump Tower is out. Very confined (well-built building).  Firemen (and women) did a great job. THANK YOU!” Trump tweeted.

Fire officials said no member of the Trump family was in the building at the time. “This was a very difficult fire. As you can imagine, the apartment is quite large, we are 50 stories up. The rest of the building had a considerable amount of smoke,” Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said on Twitter. About 200 fire personnel responded to the incident that the department said was a four-alarm fire.

Video on social media showed flames outside of a few windows and black smoke billowing up from the high-rise. In January, three people were injured in an early-morning fire at the top of Trump Tower. One fire-fighter was hospitalised while two people received minor injuries that were treated at the scene, the New York Fire Department said.

In addition to the president’s 66th-floor penthouse, Trump Tower houses the headquarters of the Trump Organisation as well as other residences, offices and stores.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th, 2018.