Early Monday morning a fire erupted at the top floors of Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York. Three people were injured in the blaze including a responding firefighter and two others, one of which was a building worker whose injuries were described initially as serious.
Owner of the building, United States President Donald Trump, was in Washington at the time of the blaze. Trump Tower was President Trump’s main residence before he won the 2016 presidential election.
The firefighter was hospitalised but without life-threatening injuries. The two civilians were treated at the scene but were later reported to only have minor injuries according to the New York Fire Department.
The blaze was reported to the Fire Department by building mangers who were initially alerted by the secret service a few minutes before 7am. Officials reported that the electrical fire started in Trump Tower’s air conditioning and heating system.
Footage from news programs gave vision of firefighters operating on the roof of the mid-Manhattan skyscraper. Smoke was seen billowing from a corner area of the building before dissipating.
Around 80 firefighters responded to the blaze with a few remaining on the roof roughly an hour afterwards.
Roger Sakowich, the Manhattan borough commander for the FDNY said on social media that the blaze “wasn’t in the building” but that it was “on top of the building”. He described flames coming out of vents but reported that no fire or smoke was inside the building’s rooms.
Sakowich went on to say that the FDNY was able to “extinguish the fire without any problems” and that their entire response plan went smoothly.
The cause of the fire is currently under investigation by the city’s fire marshal according to a FDNY spokesperson. They said that after the investigation is finalised the results would be publically released.
The spokesperson described the operation as “quick and easy”, echoing Sakowich’s statement that the plan was carried out well.
About 26 emergency units responded to the blaze with sirens sounding. While also containing Donald Trump’s personal penthouse, the tower also contains the headquarters of the Trump Organisation including offices, stores as residencies.
One of President Trump’s sons, Eric Trump, used social media to declare that there was a minor electrical fire inside the cooling tower on the roof of the building. He went on to give a robust thankyou to the FDNY claiming that they were heroes and deserved everyone’s “sincere thanks and praise”.