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CNN Live Today

Building Explodes In Manhattan

Aired July 10, 2006 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Connection to terrorism. The cause of this blast unknown at this time. Now it turns out our Larry King is staying at a hotel very close to where this happened and we're going to actually hear what Larry had to say about what it was to hear this earlier this morning. But before we do that, our Allan Chernoff is live there on the scene and can bring us the latest.
Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. As you can see, the firefighters behind me still spraying the scene with water. The smoke still rising into the air. This blaze actually got started about an hour and 20 minutes ago. It was an explosion of a building that had several doctors offices in it. We're on 62nd Street and Madison Avenue. The Upper East Side of Manhattan.

And people who live right next door were in their apartments. I just spoke with one woman. She heard the explosion. It was a huge boom. Then pieces of plaster came flying into her apartment. The window then crashed. The glass came crashing through. I spoke to another gentleman just a few minutes ago who had to run into the next door apartment building to rescue his three-week old baby and the nanny who were in the apartment at the time of this explosion.

Right now, in terms of casualties, we know that there are two civilians injured. They have been brought to New York Hospital, just a few blocks away from here. Plus, one firefighter, about 10 minutes ago, was wheeled away on a gurney. We're told that he suffered neck and back injuries. That's all we know in terms of the injuries thus far.

But again, a big explosion here. It does not appear to have been a very large building, but perhaps three or four stories high. But right next to, as you can see over here, a very significant sized residential apartment building. So that's what we have right now and I'm live on the Upper East Side.

Back to you in the studio.

KAGAN: Well and incredibly, Allan, when you look at the pictures, especially from the aerials, it looks like this single building collapsed but remarkably did not bring the other buildings down with it on either side of it.

CHERNOFF: That's right. That's right. Well, as I said, the building that did explode was much smaller than the buildings that surrounded, that are adjacent. But clearly the firefighters are here in force. I mean the initial reports were that this was a three alarm fire. I have to think this is much, much larger than that because it's not often that you see so many fire trucks, firefighters, amassed here.

And, of course, as you can see, the smoke's still rising. But, of course, that smoke, thank goodness, is actually from the water being dumped on to the burning building. So it does seem that they do at least have the fire under control right now and indeed they are permitting us to be only a couple hundred feet away from the scene of the explosion and the fire.

KAGAN: Well, and the other part of this story that would affect New York City, I understand both Park and Madison are shut down. That could cause massive gridlock of people trying to get to work.

CHERNOFF: Yes, certainly lots of streets closed off. I had to walk about six blocks myself up Madison Avenue. Normally right behind me you'd see a ton of traffic. You'd see buses going north on Madison Avenue. But I think, frankly, the traffic delays, the gridlock, that's the least of it over here. Clearly this a very treacherous, very dangerous situation and, of course, we do have the injuries and we don't know yet whether there are further injuries beyond those two civilians and the one firefighter already injured.

KAGAN: Smaller building, as you pointed out, but really no way to know at this time how many people might have been inside at the time.

CHERNOFF: Exactly. Exactly. We still do not know whether there are people actually underneath the rubble of the building. But thus far, I have not seen firefighters actually entering in there trying to bring any of the rubble out. Perhaps it's not safe to do so just yet, of course, because they're just putting out the fire right now and perhaps they do have to wait until that's taken care of before they start searching under the rubble. But again, we don't know whether anyone was out there.

KAGAN: Look, Allan, actually I'm looking at an aerial picture right now and it looks like they're carrying somebody out on a stretcher. I don't know if you have a monitor where you can see the same thing, but it looks like about 10 firefighters carrying a stretcher. We're going to listen to our affiliate WABC. Let's go ahead and listen in to them.

JOHN (ph): Where there is still, mind you, a three alarm fire burning down in that debris. Rescuers working despite those conditions. And they were able to free one person from the rubble. Now we do not have an update on their condition, obviously. They'll be loaded into an ambulance here momentarily. Very quickly taken to an ambulance and then taken to a hospital for complete evaluation. But one thing that you can notice, that person just completely covered in dust as this building came down. Trapped underneath that burning debris for the last hour and a half. Just a scary, scary sight.

Lori (ph). LORI: Just another example of the great work of FDNY. While they're battling this fire, but being able to do the pain staking task of being able to gingerly find an individual in the rubble.

JOHN: Exactly. That's why they can't move in with the heavy machinery and just start moving these bricks. We mentioned earlier how you have specialized teams -- and New York City emergency response units are really amongst the finest in the world. They respond worldwide to disasters, earthquakes, natural disasters, war zones for situations like this. But as specialized as those units are, it's all in how they master the most basic of tools, the shovels, the buckets, being able to listen for potential victims. You'll see canine units come in here as well searching for those victims. It's all a very intricate process as these rescues are ongoing. And you saw them work there with their hands, with shovels and buckets just to get this one victim free.

LORI: So we have that individual. Also two civilians taken to New York Presbyterian Cornell. They are in unknown conditions.

KAGAN: We've been listening a bit to our local affiliate WABC in New York City as we follow this breaking news story, the collapse of a building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. They've taken four people to the hospital so far and it looks like they've pulled another person out of the rubble. Interesting to note that there appears to be conflicting purposes right now. You still have a fire burning, but you also have the possibility of people trapped inside.

Let's get more information. I have with me on the phone right now Nicholas Scoppetta, the fire commissioner of New York City.

Commissioner, hello.

NICHOLAS SCOPPETTA, NY FIRE COMMISSIONER: Hello. How are you?

KAGAN: What can you tell me about what's happening on the Upper East Side right now?

SCOPPETTA: Well, I'm at the scene across the street from a building that's collapsed due to what appears to have been a gas explosion at about a quarter to 9:00 this morning. What we know so far is that there was a doctor's office on the first floor. The nurse was coming to work. She heard the explosion. She turned the corner, saw that it was her building that she worked in, about a four-story residential townhouse.

The building had not been opened yet, so there were no patients inside, fortunately. However, there is at least one person was trapped inside. His name is Nicholas Bartha. Our firefighters managed to get through the fire and ruble and to pull him from the collapsed building. He's now in an ambulance on his way to a hospital.

There were a couple other pedestrians. It appears that they were pedestrians and were passing by when the building exploded. And they were injured and are also at the hospital and now fire marshals are up there talking to them now.

KAGAN: I'm sorry, sir. Is this building entirely for doctors offices or were there residences up top?

SCOPPETTA: No, there was a doctor's office on the first floor, but the residential apartments throughout the rest of the building, we -- so far our information is that there was one person and he has been taken out of the rubble and fire by our firefighters and he's headed to the hospital.

KAGAN: And what's your belief right now in terms of who might still be trapped in that rubble?

SCOPPETTA: So far the best information we have is that there was one person in the building at the time. That is yet to be fully confirmed. Our firefighters are now searching the rubble to be certain there's no one else trapped inside.

It's under very difficult circumstances. The fire is still burning. There's a lot of smoke coming out of the fire. And, of course, it's a dangerous situation as they work their way through the rubble to try to remove some without causing a further collapse and get inside to see if there's anyone else. We're still working at it.

KAGAN: Right. So talk about those conflicting purposes here. On one hand, of course, you want to get the fire put out as soon as possible, but you can't move things around too much because there still might be people inside.

SCOPPETTA: Well, of course, the first priority is always rescue. And sometimes the FDNY is accused of being too aggressive in that respect, going into dangerous conditions. But that is the our highest priority and consistent as best we can with the safety of the firefighters and, of course, the safety of any victims inside, we are trying to remove rubble carefully where we have heavy equipment on its way so we'll -- for anything really large, we'll be waiting for the backhoes and cranes to help us there.

But it looks as though we've got the fire pretty much under control. It is still burning, but I think we will get it under control very soon. And we'll be able to work more quickly and more safely in the rubble.

KAGAN: What about the integrity of the buildings on either side?

SCOPPETTA: Well, we have evacuated the buildings on either side. There was a lot of smoke and possibly some fire initially in a large apartment house next to the townhouse that exploded. We have vented all the windows, broken the windows in those apartments where there were smoke, the lower apartments. We've evacuated the buildings. And they seem to be stable.

A building to the left of the townhouse that exploded when looking at it, which left -- there was a lot of fire on that wall. That seems to have been put out. And we have firefighters up in a bucket examining that wall right now to be sure it doesn't come down on our people while they're working.

KAGAN: And then following up on something you said earlier, Commissioner, you said you believe this is a gas explosion. What leads you to that conclusion?

SCOPPETTA: The best information we have is that it was a gas explosion and we are assuming that from the nature of the collapse, the nature of the (INAUDIBLE) of the damage.

KAGAN: Commissioner, let me just jump in here for a second because we're showing live pictures of firefighters carrying somebody on a stretcher. Would you know anything about that rescue?

SCOPPETTA: Yes. That is the person that we got out of the building.

KAGAN: That would be Nicholas Bartha?

SCOPPETTA: That's Nicholas Bartha. And he's on his way to the hospital now. He's in an ambulance and he's certainly alive and he's injured.

KAGAN: And what . . .

SCOPPETTA: Putting him in the ambulance right now.

KAGAN: Was this somebody who was working in the building or someone who live there?

SCOPPETTA: We believe, in all likelihood, he is the owner and the doctor. We have to confirm that. But the best information we have so far is that he owns the building and was in the building, occupies a couple of floors of the building. Another floor was vacant and then a fourth floor was the offices. So we are hoping that there was no one visiting at the time and there was nobody else there. If that's the case, we will end up then with just the one victim (INAUDIBLE).

KAGAN: Do you know how extensive his injuries are?

SCOPPETTA: We don't know for sure, but he looks as though he's seriously injured. But he's speaking and . . .

KAGAN: He's alert?

SCOPPETTA: He's alert. And was able to talk to our people.

KAGAN: And so he's now loaded in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Four others already taken there. You say the others that were injured were pedestrians that just happened to be in front of this building when the explosion took place almost two hours ago.

SCOPPETTA: Could you give me that again, please?

KAGAN: The others who were injured, you believe those were pedestrians who happened to be . . . SCOPPETTA: We believe they were pedestrians because they don't seem to, from what we can tell so far, have had any connection with the building. We don't know the extent of their injuries, but they were certainly serious enough to take them to the hospital. We have fire marshals at the hospital now talking to them about what they know about this explosion. And they're just getting back to Mr. Bartha, who seems to have quite severe burns on his upper body.

KAGAN: And we're looking at new pictures that are just coming in to us here at CNN. I believe this would be the man you're talking about, Nicholas Bartha, who you say you believe is the owner of the building. The only person you believe who was inside at the time of this explosion about an hour and 45 minutes ago. The four others that were injured, the commissioner of the New York Fire Department, who we're talking with right now, Nicholas Scoppetta, telling us that those were probably pedestrian who were in front of . . .

SCOPPETTA: Yes, we believe two of them were pedestrians.

KAGAN: You believe two of them were pedestrians. The other two then?

SCOPPETTA: We also had one firefighter injured while he was operating inside. It's from a fall and he is -- it looks as though his neck and his back suffered injuries. And as soon as we can confirm that and get word to his family, we can talk more about who it is.

KAGAN: And, finally, I interrupted you because we had those new pictures coming in. You were explaining why it appears at this time that this was a gas explosion.

SCOPPETTA: It was the nature of the damage that was done. The building collapsed down -- right down to the first floor, the basement. Across the street there are buildings and a lot of those windows were blown out by the force of the explosion. We know our people have no reason to be in those buildings and so we know it's from the force of the explosion. And other damage and debris in the street indicates a pattern of debris coming out and from the building.

KAGAN: And these are other new pictures we're seeing here at CNN. These are pictures of the one firefighter who's injured.

SCOPPETTA: OK. I have to get back down to the scene.

KAGAN: Yes, I'm going to let you go. I really appreciate your time. You were very generous with it and I realize it's a serious and a taxing situation. The commissioner of the New York Fire Department, Nicholas Scoppetta. Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you for that.

And those feet we're looking at, that's a firefighter. We're looking at live pictures now. We're using our affiliate WABC to give us an aerial view. Those of you familiar with Manhattan, this is the Upper East Side. It's 62nd street between Park and Madison. So that would just be just a few blocks away from the edge of Central Park on the East Side of Manhattan. Once again, to wrap up what we know. So far it was about an hour and 45 minutes ago that New York Fire Department saying that they believe it was a gas explosion at this three-story building. Our affiliate WABC covering it from the helicopter. Let's listen in to that.

JOHN: Really inspired by the pictures that we bring you at home because they find themselves literally watching TV down in the command centers, both the police and the fire department watching our pictures because they can get such an impressive angle.

LORI: And as we just saw that other person that was taken out of the rubble. Can you take us back to that site, John? More of the rescue effort again.

JOHN: Yes, it's going to -- it's going to take me a few minutes to find it once again if we can go to a ground shot. Thank you.

LORI: Take your time.

Because I would imagine they're still feverishly trying to see if they can get any indication that there might be someone else trapped there unable to get out. Any other signs of life.

JOHN: Yes, we have seen -- we've got the site now back. And we saw earlier, as we said, the firefighters that were on top of that pile of debris. Since they freed that one person, we have not seen that. We see them moving in with additional firefighting equipment. You see that tower ladder in operation. Now they've got one more hand line stretched here actually coming off the truck, just dumping water on it.

But to go back to the actual pile of debris. At least from our vantage point, I cannot see any firefighters actively working on or in that pile of debris. I don't want to make an assumption from this high up. But from appearances at least, it looks like the search for any -- heavy active search for any victims that are trapped has at least stopped for the moment.

LORI: Maybe everyone is accounted for. That would be certainly good news.

JOHN: That would be welcome news.

LORI: Absolutely. Do we still have Marcus Sollis (ph)? No. OK. We'll get to him in just . . .

KAGAN: All right, we're going to jump back in here. We were listening to WABC, our affiliate, as they give us aerial coverage of what happened on the Upper East Side of Manhattan earlier today getting close to two hours ago. The New York Fire Department telling us they believe it was a gas explosion that brought down this three- story building.

It is a part residential building, part doctor's offices. They believe only one person was inside at the time of the explosion and we saw pictures of that person being carted away with serious injuries. They believe he is the owner of the building.

Now, as you mention, this is the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Turns out, just worked out this way, our own Larry King staying in a hotel very close to where the explosion took place. Larry on phone with me right now.

Larry, this was an interesting start to your morning.

LARRY KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're not kidding, Daryn. I'll recap for you.

KAGAN: OK. Please do.

KING: All I got is smoke (ph). A lot of smoke.

About a quarter to 9:00 this morning, I finished breakfast at my hotel, which is right around the corner from where this took place. I went up to the 15th floor. I'm reading "The New York Times" and I hear a blast like I've never heard in my life. Sounded like a huge bomb. The immediate thought, of course, is to think of 9/11.

I lookout the window on to Park Avenue, saw some people running. Ran to the elevator, go down stairs. The bellman said something happened around the corner. I went right around the corner. And as I turned the corner, police vehicles were pulling in. A lot of fire equipment started coming in. You saw all the smoke. You saw a blazing fire erupting from this building.

In the middle of the block, close to Madison Avenue. Between Madison and Park on 62nd. What they have now is all the streets are roped off on Madison Avenue. You can't get past Madison and 57th north to about 64th. And you can't get east on 62nd Street from Park to 5th Avenue.

KAGAN: Well, and we look . . .

KING: And one man was taken out and they told me that he is in very serious condition. Another man who lived next door to this building told me that there was a parking garage underneath the building and he was worried about people underneath. There's a lot of rubble. They're wheeling in some big caterpillar truck now apparently to clear off some of that rubble.

I will say this, Daryn, the emergency crews of New York -- that's police, hospital and fire -- were amazing. They got here awfully quick and they got on top of this thing just as quick.

KAGAN: You know, you say it sound like a bomb and -- because you're in New York City you think terrorism. I know you're there. I don't know if you've been able to hear the latest word but the White House coming out and saying they believe no connection with terrorism. And I just had a chance to talk with the fire commissioner of New York City and he says they believe it was a gas explosion.

KING: Yes, that's what we hear, too. In fact, the person injured was injured by gas, as I understand it. Yes, but your first thought, Daryn, you're in New York City and you hear something like you've never heard and it's a huge sound, that's your first thought.

KAGAN: I hear you.

KING: But then you run down, you see it's a modest building. You know, it's a three or four-story building and then I forgot all about terrorism and it just became, how quickly can New York City handle this? And, as usual, this city where I grew up, haven't lived here in a long time, they are sure adept at dealing with this kind of an emergency. They were here so quickly. Policemen on top of the scene.

Policemen were very nice to all the spectators. A lot of -- as you know, there's a lot of spectators. Policeman were never rude. I didn't see any rude acts. They were just incredibly nice. And now I see them wheeling two people off on stretchers. I don't know what your cameras can see, but the stretchers are going right past 62nd and Madison into an ambulance.

KAGAN: Also I don't know how close you're able to get once it happened, but pretty incredible to see that just the one building collapsed. There was a really tall apartment building on one side and a somewhat taller building on the other.

KING: Correct.

KAGAN: And those are still standing and apparently fine.

KING: They're both fine and both still standing. A lot of flames. It is wondering that it didn't catch into the next building. That it stayed firm. You get a lot of luck involved in this sometime. And in that vein, being it was a gas explosion, they really got lucky.

KAGAN: Well, it must have been the newsperson in you Larry. You hear the explosion, you think of terrorism and you head out of your hotel on to the streets.

KING: That was the old -- I got out my cell phone. I've only had a cell phone for little over a year. I don't like cell phones. They go dead a lot. But CNN made me have one and so they benefited from it today because I know I was the first -- in fact, all the local channels -- I did a lot of reports for the local channels here in New York because I know I had to be the first one.

KAGAN: You see that.

KING: I heard the thing and I went down on the street. So I became a reporter and an on the scene person.

KAGAN: You see that. There might be a reporting career in there for you.

KAGAN: At my age, Daryn, it would be a new start.

KAGAN: A new start. Of course you'll have to answer to your wife of why you headed toward there. But that will be a conversation that you and Shawn can have later. KING: Oh, yes, thanks for reminding me of that.

KAGAN: Yes, you're welcome. You're welcome, Larry.

Larry King right there being one of the first on the scene to report. Thank you, Larry.

Let's go back down to the street. Our Allan Chernoff standing by with the latest.

Allan.

CHERNOFF: That's right, Daryn, I know the fire commissioner told you he believes it was a gas explosion. Indeed Con Edison, the utility here, had told us that they had an employee at the site because there was a report somebody actually smelling gas. So it does appear that there was a natural gas leak somewhere and it would seem that this was the result of a gas explosion. Of course we're still waiting for further details on that very issue.

In terms of the casualties, we do know that two individuals were treated right at the scene. So minor injuries there. At least two people brought to New York Hospital just a few blocks away down the East Side. We also did see one firefighter being brought out on a gurney. And I believe that would be a separate injury. And then we also have heard about Nicholas Bartha, the man we believe was the owner of the building. Now I'm not sure whether he is one of those two individuals who was actually brought to New York Hospital.

Behind me you can see a caterpillar bulldozer right there waiting to take away rubble and the firefighters, if we can pan up and you can see the firefighters still spraying water at the scene over there and there are dozens and dozens of firefighters, emergency crews here, waiting to go in. From where we're standing, of course, our view is blocked somewhat by this fire truck. So the aerial views that you've been getting will tell you much better the degree to which they've been able to remove some of the rubble.

Let's also give you an eyewitness view as well. Sherry Miller lives in the building right next door.

And, Sherry, you were in your apartment at the time of the explosion?

SHERRY MILLER, WITNESS: Yes. My windows face the building that exploded. What separates us is a driveway and I saw sailing down in front of my dining room window as big piece of plaster like a big part of the building. And then it kept snowballing and rumbling down.

CHERNOFF: What did the explosion sound like?

MILLER: Like a bomb. That's exactly what I thought it was and then I saw the flames and my windows started cracking, so that's when I ran.

CHERNOFF: And I can see you got out pretty quickly. MILLER: Yes, I did. I'm fortunately. Yes, I did.

CHERNOFF: And did you see other people in your apartment building fleeing? I mean what was the scene inside of your apartment building?

MILLER: We were all told to evacuate immediately even though it's a fireproof building. So was the World Trade Center.

CHERNOFF: Very well. OK, Sherry, thank you very much. We're glad that you're OK.

Some of the people who live in that apartment building still standing around here. But as you can see, the firefighters are still working on making sure that the fire is entirely out and many crews just waiting here to go in to go through that rubble to see if anybody else perhaps is underneath. But the reports that we have are that the building, the doctors offices in the building, had not yet opened for business. A very good thing. So hopefully no one else is underneath that rubble.

Daryn.

KAGAN: But, meanwhile, you have all the people on the building on either side of them that have been evacuated, so they're just waiting there on the streets to find out the status of their homes.

CHERNOFF: Oh, absolutely. I would imagine at a minimum you have apartments that have suffered severe damage, not only blown plaster through the apartment building, but, of course, smoke damage as well. But, of course, the key issue here, of course, is life and whether or not anybody is still alive or anybody is underneath any of the rubble there. We do know, of course, of the injuries that we've just reported on.

KAGAN: Absolutely. All right, Allan, thank you.

All right. Well now we can see Larry live. He's talking to WABC with his cell phone. Let's listen.

KING: And the loudest sound I've ever heard in my life. An incredible boom. Obviously an explosion. I thought it was a bomb. The first thing you think of is 9/11, naturally. Lookout the window which faces on to Park Avenue. Just saw some people running. Didn't see anything else. Took the elevator down. The bellman said something happened around the corner.

I got to the corner of 62nd and Park. As I got there, squad cars were pulling up and emergency cars and fire engines. I walked halfway down the block and I was right by it, standing, looking at the fire. There was then a lot of flames. A lot of smoke. Obviously a building had gone down. It didn't touch the two buildings adjacent.

And then the rest all was the New York City emergency crews reacting. We all didn't know what happened. And I ran into a guy who said he lives next door. There's a school down the block. And thank God that wasn't harmed and children weren't walking because they're out of school now. And he said he was worried because the building that's demolished had a parking garage underneath and he thought people might be trapped.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, Larry, we appreciate it. Larry King live this time right here on Channel 7.

KING: Now I go back to the wife.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now you go back to the wife who's on the phone.

Actually, we do want to bring you up to date . . .

KAGAN: So there we see Larry looking good as he was telling us he was up early having breakfast. Heard the big boom. Headed out. Was one of the first reporters on the scene and able to call in here to CNN because, as Larry shared with us, over the last year CNN has forced him to get the first cell phone of his life.

We're getting close to the half hour here. So for those of you just joining us on CNN, let's tell you what we are watching. This is the remnants of a three alarm fire. A three-story building that collapsed in Manhattan's Upper East Side. Happened just almost exactly two hours ago. The fire department believes this was a gas explosion. In fact, the White House has already come out and said they believe there is no connection to terrorism.

They have taken away at least five people, including a firefighter and the man believed to be the owner of the building. This was a building with doctors offices on the bottom and some apartments up top. But the fire department believes that the owner of the building, the man they took away, was the only one who was inside at the time of the explosion and that the others who were injured were the firefighter and pedestrians who just happened to be in front of this building when it exploded earlier today.

The main thoroughfares of Madison Avenue and Park Avenue shut down in New York City as a number of firefighters and rescuers try to take care of this situation.

Let's go back to Allan Chernoff on the streets there.

About what you said, 200 yards away from -- 200 feet away from where this is taking place, Allan?

CHERNOFF: Daryn, can you repeat that again. Somebody was speaking in my ear. I'm sorry.

KAGAN: I'm trying to get a feel for how far away you are? 200 feet? 200 yards?

CHERNOFF: I would say about 250 feet or so. So we're very close. The problem is that the fire truck right behind me is pretty much blocking part of our view. In fact, there's several fire trucks over there. But as you can see, the water's still being sprayed on to the building itself. So it seems to be well under control. In fact, there is hardly any smoke at all emerging from the building right now. Whereas only 10 minutes ago there was a tremendous amount of smoke and it was getting a little bit difficult to breathe right over here but now, in fact, you can see the sun shining through. So the fire seems to be well, well under control.

The only issue, as I said just a few moments ago, is whether or not anyone is underneath the rubble. And we do have many emergency crews standing by waiting to go in. I cannot tell you the degree to which they've already been able to go underneath some of the rubble from the explosion.

KAGAN: Let's call in your New York City experience here, because we're putting up on one half of the screen, Allan, live pictures; the other half a map of Manhattan in the Upper East Side. We can get a feel -- a couple blocks away from Central Park.

CHERNOFF: Actually, yes, Central Park is only one block or two blocks -- yes, one block away from where I'm standing, pardon me, yes. So right nearby. This is -- if anybody's visited New York, we are right near the southern end of Central Park, on the East Side, just a couple of blocks north of the very southeastern corner of Central Park. So that's exactly where we are. This is a very upscale neighborhood. We should also repeat important information.

Con Edison did tell us, the local utility, that there had been a report of a gas smell, natural gas smell. They had an employee on the scene checking it out. I'm told by our New York newsroom that the report came from a building next door. I don't know which building it was. But clearly, that appears to have been a very important issue, perhaps the cause of this explosion. It would appear logical that that may have been the exact cause of this.

KAGAN: All right, Allan, thank you. Back to you in just a minute. Now back to WABC and let's listen into the coverage.

UNIDENTIFIED WABC REPORTER: ... probably burned for quite some time, and it won't be until then that you'll be able to see them go in and look for any victims. Now, if there are any survivors underneath there, obviously that's the big concern. Firefighters will be checking periodically to see if they see any signs of survivors.

But as far as a search -- active search for victims in the front of the building, the portion that we can see, it looks like that has stopped, at least for now.

UNIDENTIFIED WABC ANCHOR: When you think of the manpower that's been involved, more than 33 pieces of apparatus and more than 140 firefighters on the scene. You estimated that it might be about 150, right?

UNIDENTIFIED WABC REPORTER: Probably, by the time you get done with the specialized units that have arrived here, Lori (ph). A lot of the chiefs will come up from fire department headquarters, out of Metrotech (ph) in Brooklyn. They'll come up and get a good look at this firsthand.

And then, you know, if you add in everybody that's here at the scene, just as you look down at this scene, you're going to see firefighters, you'll see emergency services personnel. You'll see Con Ed workers down there. You'll see members of the Office of the Emergency Management, the mayor's office, here. So quite a grouping of the city's finest rescue and emergency officials down here, just evaluating the scene.

But right now it appears as though the efforts are concentrating mostly on controlling, containing and eventually extinguishing that fire before the crews can get in here and begin sifting through the debris.

UNIDENTIFIED WABC ANCHOR: Looks a lot better than it did just a few minutes ago, in fact.

UNIDENTIFIED WABC REPORTER: It sure does. Earlier, you know, we mentioned when we first went on the air almost two hours ago -- we almost went on the air -- said the smoke was up where we were. We're hovering at 2,000 feet over the East Side. The smoke was just drifting right up here. We smelled it. It was as if we were standing on the street, it was that thick and there was that much smoke.

The volume of smoke has certainly diminished, and that is a very good sign. That would say -- first of all, I mentioned before the possibility that maybe something underneath that was still feeding the fire. Hopefully, that is not the case, because it appears as though they're making some headway. And as they dump more water on the flames, hopefully we'll see this fire extinguish once and for all.

UNIDENTIFIED WABC ANCHOR: Just getting this newest information, John, that Con Ed is telling eyewitness news now that one of the technicians was investigating a report of a gas odor, phoned it in from 36st East 62nd Street. That's where the Linx (ph) Club that we've been talking about -- that's next door to the building, the four-story building that collapsed. And that was just minutes before the explosion at 34 East 62nd Street. The investigation, of course, continues. It has not been confirmed that gas is the cause, but an interesting, interesting, and important fact to know that one of these technicians from Con Ed had just called in about that strong odor.

UNIDENTIFIED WABC REPORTER: That is a telling bit of information, Lori, as we come off. And I'm going to show you on the right side of our screen, that is Madison Avenue. And as the addresses count up, the building in question, the one that collapsed, exploded and collapsed, was 34 East 62nd; 36 would be the building directly on the left. It looks like the fire commissioner is ready to say some more...

UNIDENTIFIED WABC ANCHOR: I don't know if he's quite ready to, but certainly is getting ready to hold a news conference.

KAGAN: We're going to listen in to this news conference that appears to, in an impromptu way, be starting down right near the scene. Looks like they're just kind of getting set up. As they do that, Allan, can you hear me?

CHERNOFF: Yes, Daryn, I can hear you. As you can see, a big rush over to the fire commissioner, and he was just about to speak in front of our microphones and then ran into the middle of the street. So right now it appears he's getting ready to speak, and it's a little crazy here as you can see. Dozens of reporters here on the scene. We're going to get as close as we possibly can.

KAGAN: You know, you probably want to get in that scrimmage there. So why don't I let you go and try to work your way in there?

CHERNOFF: OK.

KAGAN: Don't worry about me.

CHERNOFF: Very well.

KAGAN: Plenty to talk about. OK, you do that. We'll take some of the live pictures from the top. Now you can see it's right there in the middle of your screen, as they're spraying the water. In terms of the fire, this seems to be -- they seem to be making a lot of advancement on this, and a lot of progress. Because the amount of smoke has definitely calmed down in the last few minutes. Still a lot to do in terms of the fire, but also in terms of all that debris.

Now, the fire commissioner who is getting ready to hold that news conference, telling me earlier they believe only one person was inside when this building exploded just over two hours ago, and that person has been taken out. They said his name is Nicholas Bartha (ph), and they believe he is the building owner and was inside. Four other people hurt in this explosion. That includes one firefighter. We saw him taken away. He apparently fell. And a few people who might have been pedestrians in front of this building when it blew.

More and more, it sounds like it was a gas explosion. That's what the fire department believes that it was. The White House came out and said they don't believe there's any sign of any kind of connection to terrorism. And now we're also hearing from Con Ed that apparently just before this happened they received a call from the building next door, saying there was a strong odor of gas. And they had sent an employee to check it out, apparently not in time, because this is where it is right now.

Just over two hours ago this took place, and the two buildings on either side, they've been evacuated in terms of the residents. But those buildings do appear to be fine.

We're going to continue our coverage. We'll go live to the scene, we'll hear what the fire commissioner has to say at this point. But right now, we fit in a quick break here at CNN.

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KAGAN: And we continue our coverage with live pictures of what's happening in New York City, the Upper East Side, 62nd Street, between Park and Madison Avenue. Firefighters there are still trying to put out a three-alarm fire after what appears to be a gas explosion. We're hearing from one local hospital, the New York Presbyterian Hospital, that five people were brought there. They believe that two were firefighters and three were civilians, pedestrians that happened to be in front of the building when it exploded just over two hours ago. We also understand the owner of the building was inside, a man the fire department says is Nicholas Bartha, and he suffered serious injuries, taken out of the rubble, and now taken to the hospital.

We've been supplementing our own coverage with that of our affiliate WABC, so let's listen in a little bit to that.

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UNIDENTIFIED WABC REPORTER: ... was taken away in an ambulance, and to a local hospital.

Now meanwhile you can see now as the fire is beginning to die down and the smoke condition dies down, the magnitude of this explosion and collapse. This entire building, which used to run the entire length of this space that you see between the buildings, this entire thing has collapsed.

UNIDENTIFIED WABC ANCHOR: Wiped out.

UNIDENTIFIED WABC REPORTER: And you can see down in the rear, just there's twisted metal, twisted steel, window frames, piles of bricks. There is so much more work to be done here, Lori (ph). The crews haven't begun to search for victims.

Again, we're still waiting to hear if there is anybody missing. They're going to do a preliminary search, of course, just to see.

And then one of the other interesting things that you see here, firefighters operating in the building next door. That stream of water that you see, that's something you see in midtown Manhattan. They just throw that water stream right out the window next door, and that's how they get access to the rear of these sights.

UNIDENTIFIED WABC ANCHOR: We'll go back to you in a few minutes. Want to go back to Sarah Wallace now -- Sarah.

SARAH WALLACE, WABC REPORTER: We're actually trying to get Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta over here to go live. He's just wrapped up a news conference behind me, briefing reporters on what we know and what we can tell you that we found out earlier. And John just described that a little bit for you, is that it appears that that gentlemen who was brought out very severely injured was in fact the doctor. We are told by sources that he was found in the basement of the building.

This is a combination residential and office building, shared by two doctors. One of them lives on the third and fourth floor, and they share an office. The good news, as we said, was that this occurred shortly before 9:00. Patients were scheduled to arrive at 9:00 a.m. So the good news is that it does not appear that anybody, at least patientwise, was inside the building. Again, he was found inside the basement, we are told. At least two other people -- and we believe that they were civilians on the street, because we just spoke to an eyewitness who talked about helping people. He toweled them off and described his towel as being totally red, helping them to the street obviously. Those people taken to the hospital, and we saw that firefighter earlier that we were told had severe back and neck injuries.

KAGAN: All right, we're going to jump in here, and as we look at these live pictures our Allan Chernoff is also on the street right there and had a chance to listen and hear what the New York fire commissioner had to say just a couple minutes ago -- Allan.

CHERNOFF: Daryn, actually we were on the air as you saw when the fire commissioner began speaking, and it was such a mob that I was actually standing six people deep, and I was, frankly, not able to hear what the fire commissioner was saying. So I cannot tell you.

I did speak with some firefighters just over here, and they told me that they did take one person out from the rubble. We understand that five people have been brought to New York Presbyterian Hospital -- three civilians, two firefighters. We know at least one of the firefighters did have an injured neck and back.

But also I can tell you, too, they are still spraying water at the scene. Make sure that there are no embers, trying to prevent somebody from falling in front of our camera here. You can see they are still spraying water right behind me, and, again, I believe that many of the emergency crews here are still waiting to see if they can go deeper.

The firefighters did tell me that the rubble extends about 20 feet down, so pretty extensive explosion there.

KAGAN: But right now, they can't do anything because there's still a fire burning within all of that?

CHERNOFF: Well, certainly standing by and waiting to make sure it's safe before going any deeper, before going through as much of the rubble as is possible.

KAGAN: All right, Allan, thank you.

Let's go ahead and go back to WABC. They're talking to the head of New York's Office of Emergency Management.

Let's listen to that.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... a doctor who had an office there and had to live there. He's in critical condition. The other four civilians who were injured are people who were close by who were either injured in the explosion or some other minor injuries. We don't see anything at this point that's critical. They're not listed at that, and they're at the hospital. Three firefighters were injured, none serious.

QUESTION: Set the scene for us. As usual New York was incredibly impressive in getting an emergency response here, the firefighters, the police. Describe for us the amount of personnel here. The streets, as we know, just flooded with emergency personnel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, as soon as this happened, we had an odor of gas, ConEd had responded to it. We weren't involved in that. Of course they were doing it as a routine matter. Once the explosion occurred the fire department immediately arrived, and it's in control of this scene right now, it being a fire and collapse. Immediately the police department arrived, the Department of Buildings then came in. We were in here. We've got an interagency command established.

And what it appears to be is we've had an explosion. It appears that it was located in that building. But we don't see anything else at this point that makes it more extensive.

QUESTION: Can you tell us where in the building it was. Was it likely in the basement, since that's where the doctor was found?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It appears to have been in the basement. There was a doctor's office in the front part of that building, and in the rear were a service. Don't know the cause of it or why it occurred.

QUESTION: Tell us at this point where the investigation goes from here with this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, the police do have some information that came in they are going to take a look at.

QUESTION: Which is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, they have some information about potential cause. I can't really say much more. I don't have the information. But they were there. They're trying to determine, one, where the location is. Fire marshals on the scene checking the location. ConEd is here. They're assisting in that. The Department of Buildings is here. They're helping. And HPD is here.

So we are trying to find the location and the cause. We pretty much know the location. It was lower level of the building.

QUESTION: The basement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. And there is some damage to the building, number 36, in the rear. And of course it has window damage all over. It's a pretty serious explosion.

QUESTION: Damage to adjoining buildings as well?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks like 36, East 62nd was damaged in the rear of the building, which would lead you to believe that's where the explosion was. So that's what we have right now. QUESTION: Now normally in a situation like this, obviously there's a concern about it, a further gas explosion. Can you tell us what's being done to prevent that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gas has been shut off at number 30, obviously at number 34. Thirty, 32...

KAGAN: We have been listening as our affiliate WABC talks to New York's Office of Emergency Management.

Our own Allan Chernoff is there on the scene and has some new information -- Allan.

CHERNOFF: Daryn, we have a very interesting note here. We're not confident yet that this is certain, but the fire commissioner did say that there is a possibility that the owner of the building, a man by name of Nicholas Bartha, was making an attempt at suicide. He says he's not sure of this, but he says this is a possibility that the fire department is exploring, the possibility that the owner of the building was perhaps trying to kill himself perhaps with gas fumes, natural gas fumes.

But again, the commissioner of the department saying it's only a possibility. They are not certain of that just yet. We don't have further details on that -- Daryn.

KAGAN: That's some very serious allegations there.

Allan, we do have pictures of them bringing the man they say is Nicholas Bartha out of the building. We saw that earlier, and that happened as I was talking to the fire commissioner on the phone and interviewing him. They said that they believe that he was the only one inside, and that he suffered serious injuries, and that he was taken to a local hospital. But this idea that he might have been trying to take his own life, that's new information indeed.

CHERNOFF: Right. Again, let's emphasize the commissioner is saying that's only a possibility at this point. Also saying that this individual was critically injured and is severely burned.

But he is over at New York Presbyterian Hospital right now, and there's several other people as well who have been brought over there, including, we understand, two firefighters who were injured in this blaze.

KAGAN: Kind of interesting to hear a public official even make that kind of allegation so early on after something's happened. Usually there would be a thorough investigation before they would even say something like that publicly.

CHERNOFF: That's right, Daryn. We actually had heard this as a possibility about 10 minutes ago. We didn't report it. But the commissioner himself actually saying this is a possibility.

KAGAN: Allan, the fire commissioner is talking to WABC. Let's listen. (JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SCOPPETTA: ... coming to work. She works in that building. It's a doctor's office on the first floor. She heard an explosion before she got to the building. When she got there, she saw what had happened.

The best information we have from talking with her and others is that there was one person in the building at the time of the explosion, and the building collapsed entirely from the explosion, blew out the windows across the way and there was -- the building across the street. There was a lot of fire when we got here. The firefighters managed to get enough of the fire under control so they could then dig in the rubble once we had a report that we believed there was a person inside.

UNIDENTIFIED WABC REPORTER: How difficult was t?

SCOPPETTA: It was extremely difficult, because there are two things to be concerned about. More than two, but at least two immediate. That was the fire above the firefighters who were working; the wall next to the building that collapsed, we didn't know whether or not it was -- its integrity had been compromised.

UNIDENTIFIED WABC REPORTER: Danger of further collapse.

SCOPPETTA: And, of course, when you are digging through rubble, you can cause further collapse. So the firefighters had to be extremely careful about that while they were being covered by the other firefighters.

UNIDENTIFIED WABC REPORTER: We understand this is true that the gentlemen called on his cell phone to help pinpoint the location?

SCOPPETTA: He did speak on the cell phone to our people. And that's how we first made contact with him, and then located him and dug through the rubble.

UNIDENTIFIED WABC REPORTER: We also are hearing stories about a possible call of a suicide. Can you describe that for us?

SCOPPETTA: There's not a lot that's been confirmed about that. But there was a communication from inside the building earlier that leads us to believe there is a potential to conclude that there -- that it was a suicide attempt. But we have not gotten there yet. We're speaking to all the people involved, including the person who received the call. We'll have more information on that, our marshals will, in a little bit.

UNIDENTIFIED WABC REPORTER: If it were, in fact, a gas explosion and that was linked to the suicide, how would that have been linked?

SCOPPETTA: Oh, well, if you want me to speculate, -- I shouldn't, but very often suicide attempts are conducted by turning on an oven and letting the gas asphyxiate the person who intends the suicide. And, of course, when that happens, an apartment can fill up with gas. Any kind of spark can ignite it, and that will cause a very severe explosion. As you can see, this was a very severe explosion.

UNIDENTIFIED WABC REPORTER: So, obviously, this is very preliminary, and we don't know if that, in fact, were the case. But the fire marshals...

SCOPPETTA: It is preliminary, and it's enough to make us want to investigate further.

UNIDENTIFIED WABC REPORTER: All right. Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta, live with us.

KAGAN: There you have the fire commissioner of the New York Fire Department, Nicholas Scoppetta, answering the allegation, the suggestion, that this could have been a suicide attempt. As he said very, very preliminary at this time.

Allan Chernoff, back to you.

CHERNOFF: That's right, Daryn. We're with Sal Cassano, who is the chief of the department and also the commissioner, joining us now, as well. Let's just ask, first of all, about that very question about the possibility that this was a suicide attempt?

SAL CASSANO, CHIEF OF OPERATIONS, NEW YORK CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT: Well, it's a possibility. It's not confirmed. We're looking at it, we're investigating. Our marshals are in the process of trying to either confirm or deny that allegation.

CHERNOFF: Now, why do you think it was a possibility?

SCOPPETTA: Let me tell you very quickly what we know and what we can talk about. There was a communication from inside the building to someone outside the building, some number of blocks away, that leads us to believe there's a potential to conclude. Now...

CHERNOFF: What sort of communication? What sort of communication?

SCOPPETTA: An e-mail to someone nearby.

CHERNOFF: Saying I'm going to take my life or what?

SCOPPETTA: No, I'm not commenting on what it said. We're still investigating and we'll have to speak to the person who received the e-mail before we make that conclusion. Our marshals are still investigating.

CHERNOFF: Now, a call had gone into the utility, Con Edison, about the smell of natural gas?

SCOPPETTA: At about a quarter after 7:00 or so, Con Ed got a call that there was the odor of gas and, in fact, one of their mechanics was at the scene investigating that call, we believe in the building next door, when the explosion occurred.

We're very fortunate here. We believe there was only one occupant in the building. If that turns out to be the case, then there has been an enormous catastrophe avoided. If this had been a fully occupied building, there's no telling how many people would have been killed.

CHERNOFF: That individual, Nicholas Bartha (ph), the doctor who owned the building?

SCOPPETTA: We believe he owns the building and certainly was an occupant.

CHERNOFF: OK, nobody else -- and so who were the other injuries and how many injuries are there?

SCOPPETTA: We have five pedestrians who were injured. We believe they're injured because they were -- happened to be -- four of them were walking near the building when it exploded. They do not seem to have serious injuries, but they're still at the hospital being treated and examined. And, of course, the other civilian is the occupant of the building, who was critically injured.

CHERNOFF: Not all five of those individuals are actually at the hospital, right? Were some just treated at the scene?

SCOPPETTA: All five are at the hospital.

CHERNOFF: OK, thank you. OK, now, in addition, we have some firefighters, some people from your crew also injured?

CASSANO: We had two firefighter injuries, one while trying to make the rescue of the doctor slipped on the pile of debris. But they are both considered minor at the time. Firefighters right now are trying to extinguish the rest of the fire so we can get down to the debris, search the voids, try to see if there are any other victims that we're not expecting in the building, and then try to get down to the bottom and see where or why this actually took place.

CHERNOFF: One of the firefighters told me the bottom is about 20 feet down, is that correct?

CASSANO: That is correct, yes it is.

CHERNOFF: So we've got 20 feet of rubble to go through?

CASSANO: We have a lot of hard work ahead of us. We have a grappler on the scene. We have our conveyor belt system that we use to help us in events like this. But it's going to be a long day here. A lot of hard work. But that's the way you handle these situations.

CHERNOFF: Now I see they're still spraying water. Does that mean -- how far away from going into the rubble are we?

CASSANO: We have to pull some of the rubble off and get to the scene of the fire so we can knock down the rest of the fire and then search the rubble.

CHERNOFF: Chief, commissioner, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

So, Daryn, as you just heard, they are continuing to make sure that the fire is entirely out before going in, going through that rubble, 20 feet of rubble. The emergency crews are standing by. A bulldozer here , standing by. There's also at least one dog for sniffing to see if there might possibly be any bodies underneath that rubble. But the best information that the department does have is that there was only one individual in the building at the time, the owner of the building, a person by the name of Dr. Nicholas Bartha -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, Allan, good work. Allan Chernoff on the streets there of New York City, of the Upper East Side. Our coverage will continue from there. Also other news to get to on this Monday morning. We'll do that. Right now we'll fit in a quick break.

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