Dramatic Explosion on FDNY Firefighters / 5-Alarm Fire Sunnyside Queens 12.13.18 

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12 people were injured, 7 of them firefighters, most of them minor injuries, one seriously injured. Cause of fire under investigation. Cause of explosion: a roof colapse resulting in backdraft or smoke/fume explosion. Brave people in FDNY 🙏👏❤️ God Bless them all and keep them alert and safe and effective.

After watching all these fire vidios,, ive learned this much. Theres a ton of fire experts out there.

If you watch from 10:00 to the backdraft you can see the warning signs of the impending explosive force of the backdraft, This I recognize from training during my days as a volunteer firefighter in Beaverlodge Ab Ca. Great job catching that bit on video and Thank heaven no serious injuries resulted.

You never know what the beast will do. Be careful out there, Adam and all firefighters.

With over 100,000 items, things certainly got hot in the Romantic Depot!

Hope no firefighters were hurt during the explosion !! Hope everybody is OK

When that brown smoke started rolling out under the edge of the roof. It was looking for an oxygen supply and found it. Thankfully everybody knew it was coming.

I am surprised some of those firefighters on that roof were not more seriously injured. That was scary as hell to watch. My dad retired from our local fd. with over 30 yrs. of service.

08:15 creating an uncontrolled air flow, just before the explosion no hose ready with opening that door. Many factors contributing to this fire. Not an easy fire to fight.

I can't stand the LLN logo in the middle of the video. Come on! WTF?!

Hope everyone is ok. Great shots. Thank you

Ya know what scares me, I've lived here through 9/11 I kind of fear big structures, for you guys to go in after that your brave souls. That day has still never left me.

Great video. Thanks. Stay safe and stay healthy.

11 guys on the roof. 1 spraying water

oh my god ! i hope no firefighters or any of us mere earthlings were killed by the explosion

100 fire fighters just standing around!!!

With the smoke went "Romantic magazine". And what was the cause of the fire? In the video you can see that this is an advanced fire. The fire brigade extinguishes and extinguishes and the fire and so practically what was supposed to burn it burned. From the film you can see that the warehouse was rather dismantled after the fire. At the end, there was nothing but ruins.

The majesterium1. Has another excellent video on this

How. Exhausting for these firefighters. What a loss!!!

Don’t see any deck guns or any water! What’s with the delay?

I saw this from the 7 train that night insanely huge fire

Only firefighters would consider that a “minor” injury. Well...may be Chuck Norris too.

Great Content - 10:25 Explosion

Great camera work, what kind of a camera do you use?

Wow all that water on afire and it don't seem to do nothing really shows the intensity of the flames

Omg that was awful hope the superheroes are ok

Why were the about a dozen firemen on the roof, while there was only one hose in use.

Why are they even on the roof with five ladder truck there

It was obvious that their wasn’t enough hose lines deployed on roof when firefighters begin assault on gaping holes where vicious flames were shooting 25 ‘ above roof line, a miracle roof did not collapse where F F were gathered! Lack of command coordination surely was lacking, more hose lines should have been deployed from the get go on roof!

Dont understand!!What arent the pouring water on it from the top??Wow

What a Joke! That fire should have been extinguished in the first 5 minutes! Very disappointed in the NYFD!

Blessings to you all and your families my Brothers and Sisters in Arms.

is that the #7 train?

Stop spraying the red sign and spray it in the door

Wow 100% a raging fire. 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 God bless all The fire fighters. 🚒🚒🚒🚒🚒🚒🚒🚒🙏🙏🙏

*YOU DIDN'T STOP A MINUTE WITH THAT CAMERA. IT LOOKS LIKE HE HAD A CARPENTER AND AN UNCONTROLLED ANXIETY.*

Tar flat roof. Lots of fuel. Think they would have been better off foaming it. All six businesses were a staple in the area. So sad for those owners. Vacant land plat was sold by owners in 2021

Lots of men on the roof, why? Already fire through the roof

I think unfortunately I have to agree with several comments. The amount of time that passed before FDNY crews were directed into action is atrocious. The management of this situation at the early stages is nothing short of pathetic. Whoever was in charge of this situation should have to undergo retraining and be reprimanded not to mention loose their position of authority. If you watch the video there is a positively huge amount of time where there was virtually no action to actually fight the fire. It's like the flash over occurred and then someone said "Oh wow! Hay folks I guess we've got a fire here! Let's do something about it!" I can definitely see why NY is coming down on their firefighters. Come on folks, you need to do much better than this in the early stages of a fire. All that being said, the efforts of FDNY after they began to take this fire seriously were very effective and professional. Rapid deployment of equipment and good coordination.

To bad the LLN was watermarked all over the video, kept distracting me. Lasted under a min

Can i make a suggestion. Strobe lights causes seizures and had to look away a number of times.

I'm curious as to why there is so much standing around and no effort to even try putting it out after the roof collapse. I'm currently at 21:12 and for the last few minutes. It's been a crap ton of NYC $$$ going out the door and them not doing a damn thing to earn it besides stand around. Don't get me wrong. I support them fully no doubt. But this standing around is uncalled for. Especially if you got over 200 guys on scene and countless vehicles

Please get those firefighters off that roof..! 😱😱😱

Determined to protect that hardware store 😂

Unless you're a fire fighter yourself..you should keep your criticism to yourself..these guy's are pros & I'm sure have their reasons for how they do things. Every fire & state is different how they do things. Remember fire fighters can't do anything unless they get the command from their superior. Obviously they had their legit reason for everything they did..not just one commander in chief was on seen here. Takes time to get water & attack the beast this is.

@ 51:26 what exactly is the "romance depot" and "couples welcome"?

Wow that's a lot of fdny firefighters

Honest question, any place I’ve been around Oxygen there are no smoking signs and other warnings of its flammability yet firemen strap a full load on their backs and enter a burning structure. I assume that oxygen is oxygen so how is it safe for them?

I've watched a lot of the various fire videos mostly NYFD and a few in New Jersey suburbs of NY....of all the fires, Including several large ones, It doesn't seem like the approach to dealing with this fire was handled very effectively...not aggressively enough with water from the ground level through the front windows..which is not typical for NYFD. The Fire Chiefs and people getting things set up are usually more on the ball and way more aggressive at getting water on the fire fast. The assistant, assistant, assistant deputy chief must have been in charge of this fire.... Why so many men on the roof and only one hand line up there....why not set up 6 or 8 hand lines along the front at ground level as quickly as possible? Also, I also don't understand why NYFD doesn't use aerial Ladders that also have integrated telescoping water lines and the remote controlled nozzles like many NJFD's use. If more often the NYFD areal ladders had been equipped with integral telescoping water lines and remote operated nozzles , they could stay in place after rescue operation are over/ or after a fire progresses to require switching to exterior attack....this way the water nozzle aerial's could immediately go to work putting water in the fire from above...once the decision is made to clear everyone out of the buildings and off the roofs and go to a 100% exterior operation.......instead, FD always brings in these huge areal ladders with no water line and no nozzle, in this case two of them, and once the fire gets out of control,which is in 90% of the time with fires in these Taxpayer type occupancies....huge amounts of time are lost pulling down those areal ladders. Moving them out of the way, requiring relocation of water lines to move trucks around. Then it's another 39-40 minutes till they are out of the way and Tower Ladders can be brought in, set up and water connected. It seems hugely inefficient. I realize a basic aerial truck probably costs 1/3 of one equipped with all the plumbing and pumps.... but this wasn't a ten story residential unit with hundreds of trapped residents..where long aerial ladders would be vital for rescue operations....it seems like bringing in a huge long aerial ladder truck just to get men on the roof to ventilate the roof of a single story building seems silly, when experience has shown that at least two or three Tower Ladders are eventually needed on every one of these one story taxpayer situations with multiple restaurants, grocery stores and other businesses...cleaners, hair salons with deep fryers,cooking oil, and highly flammable shit. Also. With this fire, I realize the "explosion" was probably a "back draft" from ignited gasses from the fire...but looking at the flames early on, the flames shooting so forcefully straight up through the roof, long before the explosion, the flames sure looked like they were being fed by a natural gas source. But my original point was , If NYFD had aerial ladders that had integrated water lines and remote controlled nozzles at the top, they could just be left in place and shift quickly from rescue mode to dumping water on the fire from high above. Watch some of the videos of a few larger NJFD fires. Their aerials with the built in water pipe and remote operated nozzles work very well, including on some very tall apartment building fires.

Ok I’m no expert… but wouldn’t have foam been beneficial on this fire?

I felt that in Pennsylvania.

OH MEN YOU SHOULD NOT WALK AROUND A BURNING BUILDING WITHOUT ANY DEVICE TO FIGHT THE FIRE. JUST IN CASE YOU MIGHT EXTINGUISH SOME BLAZE AND THEN YOUR COMRADES MAY GET BURNED AND HAVE TO BE PAID SOME COMPENSATION OR IT COULD LEAD TO HIS / HER PROMOTION. WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY THAT WOULD BE BY ENDING UP WITH SOMEONE EVEN MORE STUPID THAN THE LAST MAN IN CHARGE ????

le bitume est un excellent combustible...

this one will not 🛑

This is why I hate seeing firefighters with no gear on. I don’t care if you are outside, a pump operator or whatever, if you are on the fire ground, have your gear on. Bunker gear is the minimum you should be wearing. We have had guys killed by couplings that come undone and have gone flying that might not have been killed had they been wearing bunker gear.

11 guys on that roof.

A estrutura dos equipamentos dos bombeiros americanos são Ótimas impecáveis 👏👏👏👏

Damn my blow up Betty doll burned up 😂

I see a ton of fdny videos on their guys using saw and metal cutting blades, etc... do they know that's why they have the little eye protectors/ visors on their helmets? Full face would be better but these guys are using nothing to protect their faces

NYFD is so over rated

Btw! Great video footage .stop making me dizzy damnit!🥴🤣🤣🤣

LLN NYC - Always excessive camera movement and zooming. Always 40% frames of black sky. Let's see what Firefighters are doing! Learn to pan slowly for content! Fast zoom only when necessary! Watch your content and quality compared to other photogs!

I know I'll caught hell for this, but had they gone into the restaurant with a hose first they could have saved the rest of the build. They tried from the roof first and everyone knows in order to put out a fire you have to start at the bottom. Except FDNY I guess....

Dozens of apparatuses, 100's of personnel and an eternity to get a drop of water on the fire! I just don't get it. Happens all the time. 1st time I've seen the Uber lawn sprinkler nozzle. Very useful tool!

Stay low and go!

Poor camera work. First you say remastered, then you say raw footage. It can't be both genius. And you are not a legitimate news outlet. You're kidding no-one.

Thry planning on actually fighting this fire or they just gonna mill around and watch

Ou est l'eau ? Tous ces pompiers qui tournent en rond ou qui font du sur-place, leurs bâtons à la main , et pendant ce temps, les flammes, elles, font leur travail....

Where’s deck guns?

The correct address ia 45-02 Queens Blve. Also, if you look carefully. You will see the fire personnel leave the building and walk away. Just a few seconds before the backdraft occurs. Doing this saved them from more serious injuries.

Omg that looked scary hope those fire fighters are OK 😳😳😳😳

Take your time boys. No need to hurry...

80 firemen, 1 hose. Get some water flowing

NYFD started as a collective of various volunteer fire companies. This was back in the dark ages. These companies, being independent, lacked common leadership. In many cases they arrived on scene with no group plan, no cohesive attack, no leadership. Bystanders often complained they spent more time gawking and visiting with each other than doing anything constructive that would lead to a fire being extinguished. This video demonstrates that this legacy is dying hard, if dying at all. 22:40 we’ll after the point where master streams should have at least been ready to deploy in the event that went totally defensive, all that was present was an unattended line at the end of a ladder shooting straight down onto an unaffected area of the roof. The complete “lack of hustle” would seem to suggest a totally unmotivated, unled and ineffective organization. Then again, at the heart of everything, is yet another Chinese restaurant, in all the NYFD videos we have reviewed, never saw the NYFD save one yet. Great firefighters, totally vacant leadership.

About 24 minutes into video before i saw water

The men and women in FDNY are extremely Brave to do what they do. GOD BLESS THEM ALL!!!!!

That fire kept getting worse and worse no matter how many hoses were on it!

At 203:02 ole boy says, "Hey Chief, anybody want a donut? I'm gone grab a few.

So close to the "Boyd Street" Fire in Los Angeles. (May 16, 2020) I see many parallels.

You have 2 ladder companies (Ladder 115 & 118) leaning against a burning building on the Alpha side not pumping water for 20 minutes. Suddenly Ladder 118 is simply gone. Curious as to why. Also no hand lines putting water through windows.

One ladder truck putting water on fire after more then 30 minutes worst fie department

I don't know but why the hell were they all just standing around? Where they waiting for it to get bad?

Looking at the Fire Surching Through the Roof ' Pouring Water on or Over the Fire Would Starve the Fire of Oxygen and Then You Have the Backdraft Excellent Footage '

This has to be a gas fueled fire🤔 The way it keeps reigniting. God bless those hard working dedicated hero's ❤️

Holy crap!..Between the fire and the water, all is lost. And to what end?..Those shop owners have nothing to go back to..

That was one whale of a fire! Great footage, Adam. Just curious, were you talking with JJ up there? If I remember right, he was also on this fire. Firefighters were lucky on this one, I think. It could have been so much worse.

That was one hell of a backdraft. I’m glad nobody was hurt. They just got knocked on their asses.

I bet it was the warming oil at that Romantic Depot that started it! 😂

Every time i hear a FF's Pass Alarm go off it makes me sick to my stomach cause it reminds me of 9/11 I hear those things in my sleep almost every night smh

Excellent footage. I saw the original when you posted it, and the added footage just adds to the story. 👍 I like the quick phone call telling someone about the explosion.

The roof collapsed at the moment of the 'explosion', I wonder if the collapse was caused by the force of a back draft, as they were opening the front door at the same moment, or did the roof collapse and push smoke and flames out the front with force? Anyway a scary moment with so many personnel standing close, hope all FF were OK.

With that many trucks on scene why is there No Water being put on the fire? Even with all those guys on the roof they only had one hose line pulling water on it. Don’t make any since to me.

Je ne comprends pas, il y a des pompiers partout, certains tournent en rond, on dirait un manque de coordination, trop de monde

Excellent video....

Cricki that was frightening, I hope every one gets better. Shame for all the shops /jobs hard work people had done.

Sometimes I wonder if they could not improof the ladders for firefighters have to climb down. Some emergency slide that can be activated or something like that. Watching them slowly decenting the ladder with fire all around freaks me out. Up is fine, but they sure not great for out of there fast.

Was The FDNY sued over their handling of this fire.... I did not see a ground attack til 30+ minutes into the fire.... Two ladders up. Ladders should be spraying into the areas the the other ladder can't see.....(if you can't see it. Its probably not getting water,. Unless you deflect spraying) This fire should not have ever gotten this big....

What a great job they do. My late dad was the fire chief for Lasalle, Montreal , QC, One day he came back from extinguishing a huge fire, caused by a gas explosion in low budget appartements complex in the years 1960. He was covered with icicles. It was in march. These men and women are extremely brave. I admire them so much. 👍 May God bless them forever😇

Hey nozzleman on the right at the sidewalk. The water goes into the fire, not the air conditioning!