By Colleen Long
NEW YORK (AP) --A raging fire gutted an unoccupied residential building in Harlem being used as a film set and left a New York City firefighter dead.
The blaze broke out on the set of "Motherless Brooklyn," directed by Edward Norton, at about 11 p.m. Thursday. Flames poured out the windows as firefighters swarmed the scene, dumping water on the blaze to get it under control.
Firefighter Michael R. Davidson of Engine Company 69 was assigned to the nozzle and was using the hose-line to suppress the rapidly spreading blaze. He got separated from other firefighters inside the building as conditions deteriorated and had lost consciousness when he was found by fellow firefighters. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
"It's an awful night," Eric Philips, a spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio, said in a tweet. "You haven't heard a scream until you've heard the scream of a mother who's seen her son give his life to protect us."
Two other firefighters suffered burns and were in serious condition, and three others were injured, Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said.
"Our department and our entire city mourn this tragic loss of a very brave firefighter," Nigro said.
It's not clear what caused the blaze that ripped through the five-story building in Manhattan. It was home to the former St. Nick's Jazz Pub, a venerable bar that was closed in 2011. The building was being used to film the adaptation of the Jonathen Lethem novel of the same name. Norton was directing and starring, along with Bruce Willis, Willem Dafoe and Alec Baldwin.
Neighborhood resident Daquan Evans, 28, told the New York Post he saw Norton at the scene, and he looked visibly shaken.
"That actor Ed Norton walked right by. He looked pretty upset," Evans said. "This is crazy this fire. You think a movie comes up here and it is good for the neighborhood. Not a fire . . . damn."
Producers sent condolences to the family of the firefighter, according to a statement given to WABC. They said crews immediately called the fire department when they noticed smoke on the set.
"We watched firsthand with astonishment as they charged into the smoke to make sure all were safely out and then fought to contain the blaze and prevent it from spreading, putting their lives on the line as they do every day," the statement read.
Neighbors said the movie crew had set up a sign that read "King Rooster Jazz Club" about two weeks ago. Cars from the 1950s era lined the street.
"They started building the set two weeks ago and have been here every day," Nathan Monroe-Yavneh, a neighbor, told the Daily News of New York.
Davidson had been a firefighter about 15 years. He leaves behind a wife, Eileen, and four children, three daughters aged 7, 3, and 1, along with a 6-year-old son. He was the son of retired firefighter Robert Davidson.
A Pennsylvania fire department suffered tragedy this week when two firefighters were fatally injured in the partial collapse of a former piano factory in York.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More