Electrical fire sends smoke billowing from under New York City's iconic Tiffany store

NEW YORK — An electrical fire in a transformer that serves the Tiffany & Co. store on New York's Fifth Avenue spewed thick gray smoke from under the iconic building on Thursday and caused two minor injuries, officials said.

The fire did not spread to the store itself, but firefighters evacuated about 100 people from the building as a precaution, Deputy Fire Chief Joseph Carlsen said. Two people suffered minor injuries during the evacuation, Carlsen said.

The fire was reported shortly after 9:30 a.m. and was under control by noon, firefighters said. Videos posted on social media showed smoke billowing out from under the store, which had reopened in April after an extensive renovation. The videos showed firefighters battling the blaze with hoses.

Carlsen said the fire was in an underground transformer vault that provides power to the Tiffany building.

Alfonso Quiroz, a spokesperson for the utility Consolidated Edison, said the cause of the fire was under investigation. Quiroz said surrounding buildings did not lose power.

The Fifth Avenue store made famous by the 1961 movie “Breakfast at Tiffany's” is the flagship of the luxury retailer founded in 1837 by jeweler Charles Lewis Tiffany. The company was acquired by LVMH in 2021.

The Tiffany building is next door to Trump Tower, the headquarters of former president Donald Trump's business.

A Tiffany spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.