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Fire guts New Utrecht Avenue store

July 8, 2011 Heather Chin

Photo by Reliant.

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A storefront at 6813 New Utrecht Avenue was gutted and theresidents of upper floor apartments evacuated when a fire broke outin the rear of the first floor this Tuesday afternoon.

The July 5 blaze broke out at 2:56 p.m. and quickly turned into anall hands fire, bringing about a dozen units and 60 firefighters -including those from Engine Companies 247 and 243 and LadderCompanies 148 and 149 – to the three-story building, which sits ona stretch of road populated by warehouses, a printing shop and aconvenience store. Also present were officers from the 62ndPrecinct.

According to a Fire Department spokesperson, the inferno wasbrought under control by 3:19 p.m. No injuries were reported.

New Utrecht Avenue was closed between 68th and 69th Streets forabout an hour. The cause of the fire is currently undetermined andthe investigation has been referred to the fire marshals.