Warehouse fire burning in Brookland- Second case of arson for buildings owned by Joshua Guttman

May 2, 2006 - A raging fire laid waste to a complex of seven old warehouses on Brooklyn’s waterfront on Tuesday, sending a huge plume of acrid smoke over Brooklyn that evoked memories of the World Trade Center attacks nearly five years ago.

Shortly after the walls of one five-story brick warehouse collapsed, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said the cause of the 10-alarm fire would be investigated as possible arson.

"We’re calling it suspicious in origin," he said in a street news conference two blocks from the scene. "The buildings were fully involved with fire when the first units arrived. That plus the fact that it started early in the morning are indications of a suspicious fire."

Eighty units and more than 400 firefighters joined the battle, which continued late Tuesday. They used several tower ladders on three street sides while five fireboats pumped water on the flames from the East River, a technique the department calls "surround and drown."

More than 6 million gallons of water were poured on the blaze, Scoppetta said, and the fire was "holding but not under control" by noon, more than six hours after it erupted. The tenth alarm was posted at about 3:30 p.m.

Fourteen firefighters suffered minor injuries, but no civilians were hurt and there was no need to evacuate the area, authorities said. Scoppetta identified the warehouse owner as Joshua Guttman, but had no other information.

Guttman, who has various business interests including other properties in Brooklyn and elsewhere, could not be reached by telephone on Tuesday.

A man who answered the phone at his Brooklyn real estate office said Guttman "probably was one of the owners" of the fire-ravaged property, but said he had left for the day. A telephone message left at his home in Lawrence, N.Y. was not immediately returned.

A story published in The Village Voice in 2004 said Guttman tried to have another empty Brooklyn building rezoned for luxury housing but withdrew the request after a community board recommended it be rejected. The building burned down a week later. Arson was suspected but no one was charged, the Voice reported.
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=nation_world&id=4137182

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0411,schuerman,51863,5.html
First, the residents in a pair of DUMBO lofts are evacuated because of unsafe conditions. Next, the landlord’s attempt to change the building’s zoning to permit luxury apartments fails. Then, a week later, the building, along with an adjoining warehouse, burns down.

Although the fire department wouldn’t say whether they were exploring the possibility of arson, one fire marshal, Jack Delancey, confirmed that he was part of an investigation into the fire, along with agents from the police department and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The name of his team? The New York City Joint Arson Task Force.

Neither Joshua Guttman, principal owner of the demolished property, nor his lawyer, Israel Goldberg, returned repeated phone calls from the Voice.
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0411,schuerman,51863,5.html