Five firefighters injured battling 4-alarm fire in Brooklyn building: FDNY

WILLIAMSBURG, Brooklyn (PIX11) --- Five firefighters suffered minor injuries battling a four-alarm fire in a Brooklyn building Tuesday morning, according to FDNY officials.

The blaze broke out in a commercial building at 304 Hewes St., near Broadway, in Williamsburg just before 11 a.m., officials said. There were no civilian injuries reported.

A video of the scene captured flames and thick black smoke coming from the top of the building. Firefighters initially tried to contain the fire from inside the building but were forced to retreat, according to the FDNY.

Roughly 200 firefighters were still trying to contain the fire Tuesday evening, officials said. It remained unclear what caused the blaze.

“The building on fire is a one-story lumber storage building, which is interconnected with a three-story commercial building. The fire started in the one-story building. There was a heavy fire condition, which was extending into the three-story building,” said FDNY Chief of Department John Hodgens. “We were able to quickly get hand lines and hose lines into position and stop the fire from spreading into the three-story building. There’s a lot of stock within these buildings, and that's what's taking so long to extinguish the fire, a heavy load of combustibles.”