Two civilians sustained life-threatening injuries in a fire that occurred Monday afternoon at 520 8th Avenue, home of Ripley-Grier Studios and other theater offices.
The fire, which was called in at 3:31 p.m. Monday, started in the basement of the 26-story building and was caused by a transformer, according to a spokesperson for the New York City Fire Department. The fire was still under control close to 6 p.m., but firefighters remained on scene to monitor the situation.
The two civilians with “severe, life-threatening injuries” were transported to NYU Langone’s Tisch Hospital, according to the fire department. Two other civilians had minor injuries and refused treatment at the scene, as did one firefighter who also sustained minor injuries.
The New York City Fire Department sent out 26 units and more than 84 firefighters to respond to the fire.
The Twitter account for Ripley Grier said that the studios were closed Monday evening due to the fire.
520 8th ave location closed due to electrical fire! We hope to be back up tomorrow (4/17)
— ripley grier studios (@ripleygrier) April 16, 2018
American Theatre magazine and Theatre Communications Group also have office space in the building and tweeted that they were “sheltering in place.”
There’s apparently an electrical fire in our building. We and @TCG are on the 24th floor, and the fire’s in the basement, so we’re all sheltering in place https://t.co/AwinZHfrvD
— American Theatre (@AmericanTheatre) April 16, 2018
TDF is also housed in the building and tweeted that the fire had caused website outages.
Due to electrical issues in our office building, the TDF site is currently down. The situation is being investigated. Thank you for your patience.
— TDF (@TDFNYC) April 16, 2018
