Early Fire At Buschenschank On Court Street Forershadowed By A Tweet?

Photo credit: Liza Kindred

This morning at around 6:30 am, a fire broke out at Buschenschank, at 320 Court Street. It was quickly subdued, though Court Street was still blocked at Sackett Street at around 7:30 Am.
According to reader Simon van Kempen, who alerted me to the incident, the fire may have broken out in Buschenschank's basement, since there was visible damage on the ground floor.
To insure that the fire hadn't spread, firemen also had to break through the the door of Scotto's, the neighboring wine store.

Reader Liza Kindred wrote this account of the fire:
"I thought your readers might be interested to see these pictures–it doesn't seem like anyone was hurt, thank goodness. We were woken up this morning to a lot of sirens, and it quickly became obvious that the building that Brooklyn Buschenschank is in (320 Court Street) was on fire. There was black smoke coming out of the restaurant, and firefighters inside and on the roof. There were a couple of children on the sidewalk that seemed to have been evacuated from the building. We also saw the firefighters breaking the door into Scotto's Wine Cellar next door–how sad to see them going through the window celebrating Scotto's 80 years in business!
Glad to see no one seemed hurt, but sorry to see all the damage."

Both Liza and Simon pointed to yesterday's tweet on Buschenschank's Twitter account:
"The fire is on and lunch and brunch are being served till 4pm..... Then happy hour starts at 4 till 8 $5."
How coincidental is that?

Yesterday's ominous tweet on Buschenschank's twitter account

Thankfully, the fire did not start during the evening hours, when Buschenschank can be packed. Previously, I have written about the establishment's illegal basement music venue and about the illegal work on the building. And then, of course, much has been written about owner/restaurateur James McGown's questionable business practices, string of bankruptcy filings, and dilapidated buildings.

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At Noon Today, Fire Broke Out In Brownstone On Clinton Street At DeGraw Street

A friend and reader just sent me the photo above taken at around noon today on Clinton Street at the corner of De Graw Street.  Firemen were responding to a fire in a brownstone. " It looked like it was a furnace fire"  wrote the friend.
Does anyone have any more details?





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Fire On Court Street Destroys Religious Icon Store

Photos courtesy of J.

Apparently, this morning, the little religious icon store at 537 Court Street, close to Ninth Street burned down. I heard the fire trucks, but didn't realize that the fire was so close. Neighborhood dad and photographer J. took the photos above and sent the following report.

4 people were injured, one looked worse then the rest (really bad) they were taken to the hospital. The fire broke out around 7:30am before kids (including my daughter) arrived next door at Choo Choo train day care. The schoo; closed for the day and should re-open on Monday. There were at least 5 fire trucks and as ussual, the fireman saved the day - coming out of the store covered in Smokey chard dirt and debris. I am a professional phonographer and was moved by the melted iconography.

Thank goodness the fire didn't spread and the children are all right. Lets hope the adults in the fire pull through.

Thanks for the report and the use of your photos, J. After this horrific morning, take your daughter to Carroll Park and enjoy the day.

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