NEW YORK CITY: Buildings Collapse In Harlem After Massive Explosion

A massive explosion has resulted in the collapse of at least two apartment buildings on the east side of Harlem this morning. Dozens of NYFD units are on the scene. All Metro-North service is suspended due to possible damage to the elevated tracks and a nearby station. MTA service on the 4-5-6 subway lines is moving very slowly due to fears of further building collapses from train vibrations. Local television reports that there have been multiple serious injuries. The NYPD bomb squad is on the scene. Story developing...

UPDATE: CNN reports that prior to the explosion ConEdison had been called to the scene to investigate a report of a gas leak.

UPDATE II: A least one death has now been reported. Local TV says that over 20 people have been transported by ambulance. One of the destroyed buildings was five stories tall and likely had about 30 units. A housing activist just interviewed by CNN says gentrification may be to blame as landlords are slow to do critical repairs because they want longtime tenants out of their buildings.

Blaze At Manhattan High-Rise

The New York Daily News reports:

A massive blaze at a Midtown Manhattan high-rise has critically injured two people as firefighters rushed to control the flames. Firefighter spokesman Danny Glover said the fire reported to authorities shortly after 11 a.m. Sunday was on the 20th floor of a building at 43rd Street and 10th Avenue. He says about 40 units responded to the fire and were on the scene shortly after noon. He says two civilians with critical injuries were taken to separate New York hospitals. A man who lives in the building appears to be live tweeting the action from his family apartment, several floors above the flames.

The fire is in the district of openly gay NYC Councilman Corey Johnson, who is on the scene.

UPDATE: JMG reader Steve took this from his balcony.

Stop Butt-Dialing 911

New York City says their emergency services are being swamped by over four million "accidental" calls annually.

An astounding 38% of some 10.4 million calls to 911 during 2010 involved such accidental or false alarm “short calls” of 19 seconds or less — that’s an average of 10,700 false calls a day. Most of the calls — commonly referred to as butt calls — came from cell phone users who mistakenly dial 911 when making contact with phones in their back pockets, purses or elsewhere. Each time one occurred, NYPD operators lost valuable time trying to determine if someone was even on the line. The 911 system handled 3,910,373 butt calls in 2010, the report noted — even more than the 3,495,716 calls in which police cars were dispatched to actual emergencies.

Currently about 59% of all 911 calls are made from cell phones.

Photos Of The Day - New York Firefighters Arrive In Times Square To Wild Cheers

NYFD ladder trucks arrived in Times Square around 12:30am to the wild cheers of the ever-growing crowds. I tried to get down there myself to witness some history, but at this writing there's about 200 people frantically waving for cabs along my block on the Upper East Side.

NOTE: The above photos have been retweeted so many thousands of times tonight that attribution, for now, is impossible.

Biserta Is Back

You may recall NYC firefighter coverman Michael Biserta, who in 2007 prompted the city to pull its official endorsement of the annual firemen calendar after he appeared nude in an episode of Guys Gone Wild. Biserta is back in the news after being named in the divorce suit of a New Jersey reality star who is accused of stabbing her husband.

Five-alarm hunk Michael Biserta, of Brooklyn's Ladder Co. 131, traded sexually explicit mobile Facebook messages with former "Wife Swap" star Jamie Czerniawski just before her knife-wielding rampage last Memorial Day weekend, court papers allege. In lusty texts exchanged between May 12 and May 25, Czerniawski and Biserta discuss plans to rendezvous, according to a Monmouth County Divorce Court complaint filed by Jamie's husband, Charles. "I want to let you know just how f- - -ing bad I wanna f- - - you right now!!!! Can you get out??" Czerniawski, 30, asks Biserta, 25, in a May 18 text. Earlier that day, she wrote Biserta: "I miss your lips!" "Want you," the handsome hose man replied. "Mmm, can't wait!!!!!!!!!"" she texted. At one point, Biserta and Czerniawski appear to discuss a firehouse hookup. In a May 19 exchange, Biserta texted, "I want to see you more . . . we gotta make some time." She replied that she could "def" visit him at the firehouse. Biserta wrote back: "If your [sic] in Brooklyn you can stop by. [It] won't be like last time so I wouldn't even bother . . . it's usually not that quiet around the fh [firehouse] but we'll work something out . . . "

Points to the Post for "handsome hose man."

2010 NYC Firefighters Calendar

The 2010 Firefighters Of New York calendar is out.

Times Square was on fire Tuesday night as 13 smoking hot firefighters unveiled the 2010 calendar to benefit a city burn center. "They're really hot!" gushed Allyson Shankmann, 23, of Queens. "I want to start a fire, I was thinking about lighting a match so they can come put it out. They're so hot! I like January and March ... and August." Proceeds from the calendar go to the Staten Island University Hospital Burn Center. This year's cover is Chad Stertefeldt, a 26-year-old Brooklyn firefighter.

You'll note that the calendar's makers cannot call it the "FDNY Calendar." That's because two years ago the city pulled their official authorization after one of the 2008 models was revealed to have shown off his massive hose in an episode of Guys Gone Wild. That clip is still online, so if you are one of those rare gay men who enjoy extremely hung naked fireman porn, go here. NSFW, obviously. Purchase this year's calendar here.

$3.75M Awarded To Victim Of Anti-Gay NYC Firehouse Brawl

A case which dominated the NYC tabloids in early 2004 has finally been settled as a firefighter who was left with permanent injuries after being smashed in the face with a metal chair has agreed to accept $3.75M from the city. The firefighter claimed that the brawl was the culmination of the two years of anti-gay slurs he'd suffered as firehouse supervisors laughed.

Firehouse banter isnt cheap anymore. The city today reached a settlement with Robert Walsh, the former Annadale firefighter who was smashed in the face with a metal chair during a New Year's Eve fight with fellow firefighter Michael Silvestri that exploded after nearly two years of what Walsh described as being on the receiving end of anti-gay slurs.

Walsh will receive $3.75 million in damages as part of the agreement that brought an end to the former firefighters lawsuit against the city at Manhattan Federal Court in front of U.S. District Judge Robert W. Sweet. "We are pleased that the matter has been resolved amicably," said city spokeswoman Kate Ahlers, who declined further comment "out of respect for the parties." Walsh could not be reached for comment.

"Firehouse banter"? A metal chair to the face is "firehouse banter"? The Staten Island Today shouldn't have let that shitty line be published. The suit originally asked for $100M.

NYFD Calendar Returns (Unofficially)

OK, this is confusing. Remember this time last year when the New York Fire Department swore they'd never do another calendar after one of their firefighters was found have appeared in an episode of Guys Gone Wild? Even though the calendar raised over $150K for fire education and safety, showing your substantial fire hose was apparently verboten.

Well, there is a 2009 calendar after all, but I guess this one is "unofficial" even though it features actual NYFD hotties. Whatevs, enjoy and purchase here. What, you don't enjoy the objectification of public servants? Why do you hate America?

9 Alarm Fire

I got an email late last night advising me that the NYFD cover model featured three posts below is the star of a rather legendary episode of Guys Gone Wild, in which he wraps his hose around his wrist. Porn For Patric (NSFW) has the video in case you know any gay homosexual men who also like hung fireman porn. They are rare, I know.