A construction crane caught fire and partially collapsed onto a street in Hell's Kitchen early Wednesday morning, leaving 12 people with non-life threatening injuries, including three firefighters, officials said.

The fire broke out in the engine compartment of a crane perched about 45 stories up at an under-construction building on 10th Avenue, between West 40th and West 41st streets, around 7:25 a.m., FDNY First Deputy Commissioner Joseph Pfeifer said at a news briefing.

As firefighters responded to the blaze, the crane’s arm, which was carrying a 16-ton load of concrete, snapped off and crashed to the ground, Pfeifer said.  

What You Need To Know

  • A construction crane caught fire and partially collapsed onto a street in Hell's Kitchen early Wednesday morning, leaving 12 people with non-life threatening injuries, including three firefighters, officials said

  • The fire broke out in the engine compartment of a crane perched on top of an under-construction building on 10th Avenue, between West 40th and West 41st streets, around 7:25 a.m., the FDNY said

  • The city's Department of Buildings will conduct an assessment at the site to determine what happened, Commissioner Jimmy Oddo said

Nine civilians and three firefighters were transported to a nearby hospital with non-life threatening injuries, the FDNY said Wednesday afternoon. Pfeier initially said four civilians and two firefighters suffered minor injuries. 

The crane’s operator tried to put out the blaze, but was forced to flee to safety as it spread, he added.

Part of the crane smashed against a building across the street before collapsing onto 10th Avenue, Department of Buildings Commissioner Jimmy Oddo said at the briefing. The structure the crane fell from is set to be a 54-story mixed-use building, he said.

At the briefing, Mayor Eric Adams pointed out concrete debris littering the street — and said the incident could have been “much worse.”

“We are extremely fortunate, number one, that we were not during the busy time of the day,” the mayor said. “As you know, the Port Authority is here, many of the buses move through here. We were extremely fortunate.”

More than 200 firefighters responded to the scene of the five-alarm fire, Pfeifer said. Firefighters stationed on the roof deck of another building used hoses to battle the blaze.

By around 11:45 a.m., the FDNY had brought the blaze under control, the department said.

Adams noted that a preliminary review found that “all of the documentations were in order” for construction at the site.

A Department of Buildings spokesperson said preliminary inspections at the site found both the building the crane fell from and the building it hit as it fell were structurally stable. 

As of Wednesday afternoon, neither building was in danger of collapsing, the spokesperson said, but noted that there was debris hanging from both the crane and the two buildings that the DOB would require contractors at the site to remove. 

The DOB issued a stop work order at the construction site and a cease use order for the crane itself, according to the spokesperson. The agency last inspected the crane on June 15, when sections were added to the machine to increase its height, the spokesperson said. 

The construction site itself was last inspected on July 10 as part of the DOB's routine enforcement, the spokesperson added.

“As the mayor and the chief said, we're really fortunate this morning, but this is not a mayor who relies on luck, so it's my job and our agency's job to find out exactly what happened here,” Oddo said. “This is quick-moving; we don’t have a lot of answers, or all the answers. We will get them to you in time.”

Jimmy Farrington, who lives in Hell's Kitchen and shot video of the crane collapse, said in an interview with NY1 that witnessing the incident was "jarring."

Police asked the public to avoid the area as firefighters assessed the scene. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey issued an advisory saying the city had cordoned off some roads near the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Lincoln Tunnel. 

Pfeifer on Friday morning said some of the injured civilians were workers at the site. 

In a statement provided to NY1, Monadnock Construction, the general contractor on the project, said they were “fully cooperating with all regulatory agencies and are available for any assistance that is needed.” 

“First and foremost, we understand that the workers involved are in stable condition. We want to acknowledge and thank the FDNY and the other first responders who were able to safely remove workers and any pedestrians from the location and secure the site,” the statement said. 

“Safety is a priority for Monadnock Construction Inc. at this and every project,” it added. “We are unable to provide any additional details regarding the incident at this time.”