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5 hurt in chemical explosion in Manhattan

BY PERVAIZ SHALLWANI | lidesk@newsday.com

3:07 PM EST, December 17, 2007

The top four floors of the 45-story News Corporation Building in midtown were evacuated for several hours Monday morning after a chemical explosion during a routine government audit of hazardous materials in the building, authorities said.

Five people were injured in the blast, including a city Department of Environmental Protection hazardous materials employee who suffered a six-inch cut to the head and a New York City firefighter who was taken to St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center as a precaution after complaining of heaviness in his chest, authorities said. Three others were treated at the scene, officials said.

The explosion occurred around 8:30 a.m. while hazardous materials investigators were conducting a routine check of chemicals in building, fire officials said.

What "might have reacted" to cause the explosion is still under investigation, according to city DEP director of hazardous materials Enzo Catanzaro. He said the teams were conducting an annual check of chemicals, which is required of all buildings by city law, when there was a small explosion and fire.

The top floor houses several chemicals mostly used for the building's heating and cooling system, and "we believe a few of the chemicals there might have come together to cause a reaction," Cantanzaro said.

People from the 42nd to 45th floors of the building were evacuated as a precaution, fire officials said.

Gliana Ramirez, 24, a sales assistant with Sojitz Corp. of America, a Japanese trading company with offices on the 43rd and 44th floors said she was at her desk when the building manager came over the intercom and told employees to evacuate. Ramirez said she and frightened colleagues took the stairs to the 31st floor and an elevator the rest of the way to the building lobby.

"Usually it's a fire drill, but we had firefighters on the floor telling us to grab our coats and our bags," Ramirez said.

Employees were let back in the building around 1 p.m.

The building also houses NewsCorp. offices, Fox News and the New York Post.