67YEAROLD MAN KILLED AS FIRE BREAKS OUT AT FLAT IN TRUMP TOWER IN NEW YORK
NEWYORK: One man was killed and six firefighters injured when a flat caught fire on the 50th floor of Trump Tower in New York.
The victim, Todd Brassner, was found unresponsive and unconscious in his apartment and was pronounced dead in hospital, police said. The 67-year-old was an art dealer, according to reports.
Officials have not yet released information about the cause of the fire on Saturday.
Donald Trump, who has an office and a private residence in the building in Manhattan, his wife Melania and son Barron were not in the building at the time. The US president tweeted: “Fire at Trump Tower is out. Very confined (well built building). Firemen (and women) did a great job. THANK YOU!”
Eric Trump, the president’s son, tweeted : “Thank you to the amazing men and women of the NYFD [sic] who extinguished a fire in a residential apartment.”
Fire commissioner Daniel Nigro said on Twitter: “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.”
About 200 firefighters responded to the incident. Video on social media showed flames outside a few windows and black smoke billowing up from the high-rise. The New York police department closed 5th Avenue between West 55th Street and West 57th Street, and West 56th Street between Madison Avenue and 5th Avenue.
In January, three people were injured in an early-morning fire at the top of Trump Tower. One firefighter was taken to hospital while two people were treated at the scene for minor injuries, 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.