Homeless encampment discovered inside NYC bridge after fire breaks out
FDNY battles fire at UWS homeless encampment
A fire broke out Tuesday morning at a homeless encampment located underground near the Amtrak train tracks by West 78th Street and Riverside Drive on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The FDNY responded quickly after smoke was seen rising through a street grate, sending about 60 firefighters to the scene. FOX 5's Lisa Evers has the story.
NEW YORK - A fire broke out Wednesday at a homeless encampment located underground near Riverside Park on the Upper West Side.
What we know:
The fire broke out just after 11 a.m. at a homeless encampment located along the Amtrak train tracks near West 78th Street and Riverside Drive.
Smoke was seen coming up through a grate on the street.
Emergency crews arrived quickly, with approximately 60 firefighters working to extinguish the blaze. Firefighters ran hose lines through an open window to reach the area near the tracks where the fire was. By the early afternoon, the fire had been extinguished.
There were no fatalities or serious injuries reported.
The backstory:
"The homeless issue is a very pressing and delicate one, but this is completely unexpected and I couldn't have imagined that there'd be an encampment right here," said a neighbor living nearby.
The city has had an aggressive campaign to remove the encampments. In the first nine months of 2024, 2,300 encampments were cleared throughout the city, which official ssiad were home to roughly 3,500 people.
The Source: This story was written using information from the FDNY and FOX 5 crews and staff in the field.