we got good news. the after the show show has been booked by a bulldog. fox news alert. republican victory in a race that might be a sign of things to come. david jolly firing up supporters after pulling the upset over the democratic challengers. >> i am honored and humbled to receive the support of the community and have the opportunity to serve as your next representative from florida's 13th congressional district. >> good morning, everybody. i am bill hemmer. and welcome to "americas

newsroom" >> and i am martha maccallum. this race was considered somewhat of a test of obamacare as we go toward the midterm. >> john roberts is live in clear water beach, florida. size this up. how important was this race? >> it is difficult to overstate the importance of this race. this was a huge win for the gop. even some republican strategist were doubtful he could win. this is the first test in a congressional race in how powerful a message obamacare might be. some republicans started worrying obamacare might not be

the right issue to run on but he told me this win should be a wake-up call to the democrats. >> i think the democrats should realize people on the ground are concerned about the president's view of government as they see in obamacare. it has hurt people in the community. it is hard for the president and their flag barer to convince them to stick with them. >> reporter: and he said republicans have responsibility to put forward an alternative. >> what does this say about november, john? >> on the surface it looks good. but 2009, 2010, democrats won three big special elections and then lost 63 seats and control

of the house. jolly said after his win he believes republicans will take control of the house but also the senate as well. it is interesting to look at the republican district. they said it is heavy republican but it isn't. it is as 50/50 as you can get. according to the poles he ov over-performed. on paper, alex sink should have won the race. let's get background on the 13th district. they were replacing the late congressman bill young who passed away last fall. it is located in the tampa bay

area and half of the population of saint petersberg as well. and president obama took just over 50% of the vote against mitt romney in 2012 and 51% over john mccain. >> and asking if this republican victory is a sign of things to come we will talk to greg walden, national committee chairman in a couple minutes about that. but first, tell us what this election tells you, if anything, about where woe are in the government, with obamacare and all of that stuff. you can tell us what you think on twitter. >> when we started getting the e-mail he won -- i think everybody thought it was going to be a close race but there was

feeling it would tilt in her direction. big surprise. there is a new report showing obamacare's enrollment numbers are falling way short of the goal as we are about the -- to hit -- the deadline. 19 more days for people to sign-up. 4.2 million americans have signed up, far short of the 7 million goal. the goal the officials have been backing off of. stuart barney is here. and the latest data is in. >> it is indeed. as a progress report on obamacare, it isn't good news. number one, not enough people are signing up. number two, not enough young people are signing up. and number three, not enough money is flowing into the insurance pools.

therefore a buyout looks likely therefore obama is going to pay a mess for this victory and consumers are paying more. how many people know where they stand on their obamacare in their state at this time? how many parts have been delayed? what is still in place other on the taxes? >> i think that is very true. when you look at the numbers and now the model is coming into question. 46% of the mix needed to be between 18-34 and just adding to that the fact you are covered under your parents policy until 26 and you have narrowedhe web pool. >> this isn't about the website now. this is about the economics and the money of the things itself.

if you don't get enough young people signing up, you don't have enough healthy people to subsidize the sicker, older people, the internal operation of obamacare collapses. that is where the bailout comes in. there is a statement that says in comes the tax america to back them up. can you imagine america bailing out the insurance companies? >> no doubt they have the fine print of that part of the bill on their desk and highlighted at this point, stuart. thanks, see you on fbn moments away. breaking news. new signs of confusion in the search were the malaysian airliner three days after it went off radar. flight 370 search is now

covering 37,000 modical miles. where are we this morning on this, catherine? >> reporter: there is growing frustration with the malaysian investigation and conflicting evidence. they are analyzing manitance data. >> we are working with experts from bowing, the national transport safety board. my heart reaches out to the families of the passenger and crew and i give you my a

assurance. >> >> reporter: they are investigating the report that the pilot once let two people back into the cockpit back in 2008. sdwl >> what about the highjacking an gel? >> reporter: they are excluding the possibility that the jet was taken over. they suspect the malaysians may have more information that is not public yet >> you don't say there is a potential for a highjacking based on a hunch. you need a minimum of two to three pieces of the puzzle to put together. >> reporter: intelligence officials are keeping an open mind but emphasis the images of the iranian men haven't pinged in any databases for known

terrorist members. the relatives of those missing passengers are now beginning to speak out about the lack of answers they are getting. an australian man rob burrow and his wife mary are among thes those missing. this parents say they are expressing heartbreak for what happened. >> it just disappeared off the face of the earth. if we could find wreckage, that would be a help probably. but, we keep waiting for answers. it isn't fair to lose both

parents. >> they have not a clue where the plane has gone. i don't know to do. we are getting together to comfort each other. >> you feel for these people. their grief is suspended because they don't know the answer to what happened yet. >> and so many feel just like that. what is confounding is what the malaysian airchief said. saying it was picked off a hundred miles from the west wasn't true. do you look in the north? in the west? where do you go? >> we will talk about the technology and how you would think this wouldn't be so hard to find. but there are so many blank spots on the globe. >> more on that throughout the morning. a towering inferno in a major

ci city. we will tell you where this happened. >> and a little boy and his fight to get the medicine that could save his life. the new details that has the family jubilant. family jubilant. >> and lois lerner updates -- () great. this is the last thing i need. seriously? let's take this puppy over to midas and get you some of the good 'ol midas touch. hey you know what? i'll drive! coming up. coming up. brakes, tires, oil, everything. (whistling) are we still on for tomorrow? tomorrow. tomorrow is full of promise. we can come back tomorrrow. and we promise to keep it that way. csx. how tomorrow moves.

what a day. can't wait til tomorrow. [ cellphones beeping ] ♪ [ cellphone rings ] hello? [ male announcer ] over 12,000 financial advisors. good, good. good over $700 billion dollars in assets under care. let me just put this away. [ male announcer ] how did edward jones get so big? could you teach kids that trick? [ male announcer ] by not acting that way. ok, st quarter... [ male announcer ] it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪

>> terrifying scene in san francisco. this is a five-alarm fire at a condo construction site. the flames sending plumes of black smoke into the fire causing the wall of a building to collapse and that sent

neighbors running for their lives. >> our windows face the fire directly. i saw the smoke in the corner and then flames engulfed the whole building. as soon as the fire alarms went off, i knew it was time to get out. >> one firefighter suffered minor burns to his face. a 141 page report might shed light on lois lerner's time in the whitehouse. it will detail how deeply involved she was in the republican tracking. jason chaffetz is here with us and welcome back here. put this in english for the viewers. what does this report prove?

>> you have the president of the united states who expressed the concern on the targeting by the irs. they start the investigation but the person at the center of this pleads the fifth and then you have the president of the united states saying there is no corruption here. but then you look at lois lerner and in her own words, and emails she sent, there is a pattern of her rooting against these so-called tea party groups, conservative groups, and making the case they should be denied these reports. >> her attorney says you have no interest in the facts. the other thing he says is you have no interest in facts and he

would be interested to know who has the knowledge she did these things. are the facts in this report? >> you look at her own words and this is clear. it wasn't a rogue agents like the folks in cincinnati. no, this went up to the top. it was integrated. it proves the fact. we want to talk to lois lerner not because of who she is but because she was at the center of this. she is the center of the discussion here and we want her to testify. >> i don't know if you are going to get that opportunity. now this is what the report says. i want you to interupt this as well. tea party was itching for a

constitutional change and she planned to retire in the month of october that year. >> the irs is supposed to be non-emotional and not involved on any side of this. they are supposed to look at the law and make sure it is executed properly. but you see she has a political bias, not only in the e-mails sending to relatives, but what she does within the department. she talk said about how the fbc will hopefully save the day, the federal election committee. she has a political motivation that needs to be explored. i don't think it just her. this report is very detailed though. >> you mention you want to talk to her. what power does congress how now to get answers from her? >> when she same and testified

she did an awful lot of talking as trey gowdy and chairman isa have pointed out, i think she put herself in contempt with congress. she can't just not comply with the subpoena. >> we will see if you get that opportunity. do you think you will or no in a word? >> yes. >> jason chaffetz, thank you, sir. the republican from utah. a new role is revealing an all-time low for president obama and what that could mean for democrats. >> and a passenger swinging into the action to rescue a baby who stopped breathing thousands of feet in the air. >> i saw the man rushing toward the front and they needed help. and we were told baby was in disstres. disstres.

so our business can be on at&t's network for $175 a month? yup. all 5 of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line, anytime, for $15 a month. low dues, great terms. let's close! new at&t mobile share value plans our best value plans ever for business. so i can reach ally bank 24/7, but there ar24/7.branches? i'm sorry, i'm just really reluctant to try new things. really? what's wrong with trying new things? look! mommy's new vacuum! (cat screech) you feel that in your muscles? i do... drink water. it's a long story. well, not having branches let's us give you great rates and service. i'd like that. a new way to bank.

a better way to save. ally bank. your money needs an ally.

there are brand new poll numbers out showing the president's approval rating hits an all-time low. 54% disapprove of the job the president is doing and 41% approve. that is the lowest numbers the president has seen. steve hayes is here. these are tough numbers >> they are. if you look at the right track, wrong track, 65% of those surveyed thought the country was on the wrong track. and looking forward to the 2014 mid-terms when you ask people if

they are more or less likely to support people who support the policy administration a two to one likelihood they would vote for people that support the administration right now. >> when you look at the numbers and the mid-terms coming out, right track wrong track is a strong indication of which way the elections will go and florida gave us a taste as well, steve. >> we did. and the presidential approval. sean from clear politics has done analysis on presidential approval numbers and performance by their own party in the off years. and the performance of the

democrats and the president's approval racing is very striking. in 23-30 years, the democrats have performed within five points of presidential approval rating. if you look at the dozen or so racing, the president average approval in those areas is lower than this finding, 35%. that is a big deal for democrats going into november. >> and a 5% swing in either direction wouldn't be enough to put them over the top. not great news for gop in terms of their approval rating for congress. 25%. >> bad for republican brand. this is no surprise. the brand has been tattered for a while. you hear noises about trying to repair that. i think this emergence of

conservative reform agenda pushed by paul ryan, marco rubio, to address this head-on. we mean see how much it matters in the mid-terms, bmw i think it is likely to help in the 2016 elections >> would you like the candidate in office or any selected human being? and in this climate, it is we'll take any random, selected human being. >> that is understandable. >> a seven-year-old is fighting cancer and trying to get a life-saving medicine he needs. >> could it be the beginning? the gop scoring a key win in a crucial special election yesterday. what it may mean for the mid

terms. >> the folks on the trail were told if you like the republican majority in the house you can keep it and the voters want to keep a check on obama.

it's a growing trend in business: do more with less with less energy. hp is helping ups do just that. soon, the world's most intelligent servers, designed by hp, will give ups over twice the performance, using forty percent less energy. multiply that across over a thousand locations, and they'll provide the same benefit to the environment as over 60,000 trees. that's a trend we can all get behind. 9:30 in new york and we are awaiting testimony from kathleen sebelius who is set to talk in 30 minutes and will be forced to defend the agencies one trillion

dollar budget before paul ryan and the house ways and means committee and might be asked about the enrollment numbers on obamacare so stay tuned for that. we will have the live for you when it begins. a republican victory in a key house race is being talked about as a potential bell weather for how obamacare is going to play out in the mid-terms. david jolly defeated alex sink who lost the race for governor there in florida. jolly said the race came down to winning on these issues. >> what is important, though, is that a republican in a district that president obama had won twice, a first-time candidate going up against a hand-picked candidate picked by the democrats with all of the money behind her. they were wrong on the issues

and message. we won because we stood on the issues and message that is right for the community and country. >> david jolly narrowly beat him 49%-47%. greg walden is here now, the chairman of the national republican committee. >> good to be with you. >> david jolly says accurately this is a national candidate who was supported by nancy pelosi and had a ton of money going into the race and way more name recognition. were you surprised by the outcome? >> i wasn't in the end. obamaca obamaca

obamaca did carry it twice, and alex sink won for governor. i think you will see this play out. we'll are getting input on the website from people who are affected by obamacare and want to stand up with a check and balance in washington. >> you have to be look at the independents in these races because it is a tight congressional district. republicans slightly-heavier but a 50-50 district. what do you look for to give you indications in your job? >> americans think the country is off the track, obamacare is bad, war an energy, it is that feel of a refrendum election in

a six-year president term. we know what that is like back in '06. there is panic by the democrats in the targeted districts where voters have had enough and don't want to see nancy pelosi and harry reid teaming up anymore. they are saying enough is enough. >> you look at the fact this is the main issue in the last mid-term cycle and that was when it was being written and put into the books. and four years later, if you get a republican shakeup based on health care, the president's major legislative initiative, what does that say about this legislation? >> remember, marta, the democrats playbook is running on obamacare and talking about how great it is and ignoring the

realities on what is happening to people who are having hours cutback, deductibles going up and think there is too much government interference in life between them and their health care provider. i think you will see an unrising of conservatives saying we don't want the government in your lives all of the time. we don't want that. i think we have a good opportunity in this cycle >> you have to wonder what the democratic counter part is thinking after this election. they have said she didn't run on what needs to be fixed, will be fixed, we'll not get rid of obamacare, though. so they have to be asking do i avoid this issue? >> they are panicked. they are putting out all kind of spin own the outcome of the race. the reality is they are panicked. you look at the race in west

virginia and our republican is up 14% on a 30-year member of the house. and collin peterson in minnesota and other targeted seats. the problem with obamacare is across so many different areas of your life. can you get to the doctor? the websites that don't work. talk about oregon and failure of a website you can still not sign-up on. people think it should be scrapped and replaced. >> this is a dramatic story of what is going on across capital hill as they look at the season. >> they had to win this one, and they did. >> good to have you here, sir. >> thanks, marta.

a 7-year-old boy fighting for his life but the drug he needs was denied but last night the manufacture caved and josh hardy will receive the medication he needs to survive. john hunt is here. quite a victory. >> reporter: the family hopes and believes this is a major step forward little josh. he is fighting a viral infection he developed after a bone marrow transplant. he is down at st. jude in memphis and his family is fighting to get this experimental drug. his mom said today she is thrilled. >> we are super excited. i think our joy is going to come out to him and hopefully give him the more motivation to heal

and to just fully recover. that has been the goal the whole time. >> reporter: amy hardy tells us she has been told by josh's doctors in other experiments this drug has been proven to battle the kind of infection he is suffering from within just a couple web weeks. >> what does the drug maker say about this? >> reporter: they said they can not make this about one boy. they could not give this drug to josh on compassionate grounds. last night they reversed that and said he would be the first patient in the study beginning today. they said in a statement quote being unable to fufill youth

request is excruciating and nothing no one wants to make. it is essential each person is treated with value. but thanks to the grassroots m campai campaign, they reversed the decision and he is expected to receive it some time today. so we hope and pray it works. >> and in the timeframe you described to us as well. thank you. prayers for him and his family. look at the markets and see how they are doing. dow closed around 16, 351 on tuesday down more than 67 point. and down 50-60 in the early going on wall street. we will keep on eye on the markets for you. and in the meantime, where is the world is this plane?

conflicting reports on what may have happened to the jet. they don't know where to look even. >> hope you didn't pack away the winter coat. i did. but tomorrow is -- it is going to -- look like that. the storm is bringing bone chilling temperatures to tens of millions of americans. >> i don't want to see anymore because the shovelling is hard work. work. iprise asked people a simple question:

in retirement, will you outlive your money? uhhh. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive.. confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need. well, knowing gives you confidence. start building your confident retirement today.

>> it is a new home and homecoming of sorts for the nfl player who says he was teased. jonathan martin has been traded

to the team that supported him when this came out. he is going home and playing for team from his home town. where is flight 370? there is confusion and chaos surrounding the search for the yet that vanished off the radar. india is now joining the search were the investigation. it is good to have you on the program. speculation is wild. what is your theory on the plane? >> i had several theories but based upon all of the conflicting reports, we cannot rely on any of the data or statements. if you take it from the

beginning when the airplane went missing and a lot of electronic help the airport has vanished holds to down to airplane problems or someone intervening with the airplane and not letting it do its job. there bogus passport, you cannot hold out a lot on that. but someone had knowledge to take the airplane from electronic view and fly it on a different course. >> if you are assuming it went into different course and wasn't destroyed in a disaster there. i want to ask you about this, this is what we believe happened, 12:41 late friday night. and then at 1:30, with the last

known location of the plane. and now the airforce general in malaysia is reporting they got a signal out here in the sea at 2:40 in the morning. he later came out and said that is not true. that leads to sususpicious behavior and confusion. >> do we know he said that? >> he did. and then he denied. >> well, you know, if the intention was to cause confusion, they have been 100% successful. >> now you have a search area of 35,000 square miles whether it is this location where the plane was last believe to be seen, stretching through the area

right here. where are we tomorrow? >> we are nowhere. that is an impossible search. how long and how scattered will the debris be able to tell us anything? if this drifts 20-30 miles, it will be no help. so we may confirm something came off the airplane so we know it went down. but the location is going to be so scattered we are going to have trouble pinpointing the search. >> what is the crew that went over there doing now? i saw notes suggesting they were sitting in hotel rooms waiting for the commander reports >> from reports, they are saying

the malaysia investigation doesn't have an accident investigation group. they had press conferences and were working behind the scenes, but haven't convened a group. when you convene a group, it is a formal process. you don't have an investigation until you start that. and one of the things the government has to do is turn over the radar track and all of the information they have. and i am told as of yesterday that hasn't happened. >> the chinese government is ticked off and made their feelings known publically toward the government of malaysia. is this what happens in a country that is not ready and prepared for this? one would think there would be confusion and chaos and it would take time to get organized? >> they have a mature aviation

system in malaysia. they travel to a lot of places. it is a discouraging to see what is happening today. given the fact they have been members of the aviation community for quite shh some time, it is discouraging they don't have people identified to accomplish those tasks that are so basic. >> thank you, sir. out of newton, mass. president obama is planning to his use executive authority to force companies to pay millions of workers more in overtime. critics say this could be a job killer. >> also, a mid-flight miracle. a race to save a baby's life on board. >> ran up to the baby and had the baby held in his hand upside down and baby was purple. down and baby was purple. all-you-can-eat is a hotel policy

that allows you to eat all that you can. the hotel gym is short for gymnasium. the hotel pool is usually filled with water. and the ls, is hotels.com. it's on the internet, but you probably knew that. or maybe not, i don't really know you. bellman: welcome back, captain obvious. captain obvious: yes i am. all those words are spelled correctly. yourturn night into day.ng. conquer the globe. stop floods. now she could use a hand, so she can keep living on her own. comfort keepers can help you help her. our professional caregivers are carefully chosen and highly trained to provide a variety of in-home services while truly engaging with your aging loved ones so they can stay happy at home. comfort keepers. keeping the comforts of home. call comfort keepers now to learn more.

all right. we have breaking news story that is unfolding here in upper manhattan. fire and police are responding to reports of a large explosion. those are the reports from eye witnesses on the ground in a building in uptown manhattan. here is the chopper shot of the general area. east harlem residents reported hearing a large explosion around 9 a.m. and a fire started after that. they believe the structural integrity of the building is com p p promised and they are talking

there could be people inside. the biggest concern is whether or not the building can hold up given what happened. there are concerns people maybe trapped. residents heard a huge boom. smoke began infiltrating the area. they called a level two mobilization for crowd control. the third alarm was sounded as well is another report as well we are getting from the tweets on this. this is up near central park. 116th street on the upper west side in harlem as the police are scrambling to respond to this. this is a chopper shot we are getting over the city. we all efforting closer shots and we will get those to you as they come in. we will keep on top of this as we continue to get reports. metro north train service has been disrupted. service in and out of that area

is delayed due to police activity. this is the area of columbia university as well if you are particular with that part of new york city. this is a huge concern right now. a massive amount of police and fire and ambulances headed in that direction trying to figure out if they can get help to those people. so just to take you through this. this is 116th street in harlem, uptown manhattan, near columbia university. and they are calling this a building collapse with fire according to the most recent tweets coming in from the fire department in new york city. a situation that is causing a lot of emergency folks to scramble. there is a building explosion

report. on the right-hand side of the screen, this is the first shot showing the plume of smoke. breaking news in new york city. an explosion reported.

martha: breaking news in upper manhattan at this hour. at 116th street we're getting reports from the fire department in new york there has been a large explosion in an apartment building. help is racing to this scene. there are some report that is people may be trapped in this building. there is great concern that the building could collapse and structurally may not be able to scene itself, given the force of this explosive blow. there is on russly rising smoke you see on the right-hand side of your screen from this area in 116th street in upper manhattan. you see the larger chopper shot on left-hand side of the screen.

as we get the reports, following fire department on twitter as well, we're seeing there is three-alarm, they're calling it 114th street, according to this. so, it is somewhere in that, that general area of east 114th street where this seems to be playing out. they're saying multiple dwelling, fire they are dealing with. all hands on deck. this is fox 5, the local affiliate. let's listen in. >> coming out of that area, fleeing in a way or perhaps being told to get out of the area. >> we hope whoever was in that building got a chance to get out of that building too. five, six, stories, could be a bunch of apartments. so our thoughts and prayers are with them right now. >> all right. we're joined by someone in the neighborhood just a short distance away from this scene. we're told at that he saw what happened. sir, forgive me this is breaking news. what surname. >> my name is renzo.

>> where are you, and what did you see? >> i'm about a block 1/2 away. there is another fire truck about to pull through. the cops are letting them through. looks like half the building came down and is on the street. firefighters looks like they might be on top of the debris. they got their ladders hoisted all the way up, spraying water down on to it. yeah, it is pretty, looks like, i heard the explosion pro my office about three or four blocks away. sounded like the roof was going to cave in and we looked out the window and saw a bunch of smoke. people had been walking from the area were telling me that you know, they saw the building come down. yeah, it looks pretty bad. it looked like a good piece of the building is down. maybe just facade or something but, looks pretty bad. >> let me ask you something. are you familiar with that area? do you know, are those buildings occupied? because i heard there were some

buildings around there that are unoccupied and maybe they were doing some work on it? recognize sew? -- renzo? >> are you there? sound like we lost him. you're looking live pictures, live pictures from the vicinity of 114th street and park avenue. reports of an explosion and a partial building collapse and a very serious fire still to be in progress. metro-north has suspended service in that area. met know north, new haven lines affected. carrie drew is with us now. >> do you have any new information. >> we're following what happened on twitter. eyewitness accounts -- bill: those are our colleagues, greg kelly on the local fox 5 affiliate. we want to move to wabc this appears to be a much closer street shot. this is what the eyewitness was describing. seems like half the building came down. this is what we know now.

associated press has it this way. fire department a major emergency response in east harlem. this would be on the outer edge of central park toward the northern part of the island of manhattan. fire department of new york says it received report of a possible explosion and building collapse around the area of park avenue, 114th street. no immediate reports of injuries. wabc, the screen left picture you're watching there, say that residents heard a large explosion inside of an apartment building around 9:00 this morning which would have been an hour and four minutes ago. the fire reported in this building and residents were seeing smoke in that area. one of the more alarming notes that came out by way of twitter, explosion and collapse, in quotes. residential structure with fire and people trapped. that's what we know as of now. martha: i mean when you look at the street scene in that closer picture this looks like a very large explosion that happened in this building.

and as, eyewitness was saying, it looked like half the building came down but when you look at effort going on right now to put out this fire and to rescue anybody that may have been in there, there was some suggestion there is work going on in this area, holding out hope perhaps this build something not occupied. we don't have an answer to that question right now and there were some earlier reports, i just want to caution everyone because things are kind of flying in here left and right, that they were concerned people might be trapped in this rubble. of course that would be their primary concern to he make sure who they ever could get to safety in this situation. no immediate reports of injury. we see the smoke billowing out on the right-hand side of your screen. on the left-hand side a slightly tighter shot. we got a street view of this and it looks like a war zone. a very awful charred scene in the street in front of this

building. as we come in tighter, you see the effort of the fire department of new york on the roof of this building. three-alarm fire. three different companies were brought in to try to get this thing under control. we're trying to get a little better handle what this building is. it has been called a residential buildings, bill, but we don't know the size of it or how many people live this structure essentially at least half of it has come down this morning 9:00 people are starting their day. some people moved on to their office or on to work out of this building. there could be families inside. you don't know how many people on the sidewalk below when the explosion occurred. we're watching wabc-tv. we're watching fox 5. do we want to go back to fox 5? martha: harlem center spokesperson says they're treating one person from the e.r. in this incident. the police told them, they

quote, expecting others. they are injuries in this situation to be sure. bill: let's get as much as we can off-line. let's grow back to fox 5 online and wnyw here in new york. >> we do have somebody who is nearby that area right now who is on the phone with us. may we have your name please. >> max. >> max, tell us where you are and what you noticed. >> i'm on the corner of 116th and park avenue where the explosion is. i'm catty-corner. the explosion is on the park avenue side, the west side of park avenue, north of 116th street. it looks like it was a construction site and from what i understand, the building collapsed and created this explosion. >> we see scores of firefighters actually on the, on the west side of the tracks. you see them all barretted there. all -- gathered there.

all kind of debris on train tracks. >> there is debris, there is debris for about a block. windows have been blown out, a whole block. i came running. my shop is on 11th and 2nd. we felt the explosion there. and we came running and we just followed the smoke. >> so, max, you do believe this was a building that was unoccupied and people were working on it, constructionwise? >> i believe there was, the problem is, if you look at it, i don't know if you guys have aerial footage yet. >> we do. >> okay. then it looks like there is an occupied building that was also badly damaged, if not destroyed. but it is just such a manage gelled mess, and you really can't tell. >> max, we're seeing the pictures right now, the intensity of this fire, the smoke, pouring out. >> the smoke is all the way on the river. it is cloudy and dusty up to the east river.

>> wow. >> that firefighter, firefighters on the roof there, the building that they're standing on seems potentially the upper floor is engulfed in flames as well. this fire is not under control yet. >> how many firefighters would you say on the scene right now, max? >> oy, my god, there is at least 10 fire trucks here. i don't know, close to 100. there is knows how many nypd. there is ambulances everywhere. there, it is bad. the police have cordoned off. nobody can get close enough anymore. when we first got here we were able to get, you know, right up close to the explosion. there are cars that have been badly damaged if not destroyed. the shops on 116th are definitely damaged. i know that the city council speaker, here office is here on 116th i believe. and i'm sure her build something definitely affected. >> by the way we're going back, want to recap and stay with us,

max. 9:30 this morning an explosion of some type in harlem, 116th street and park avenue. you can see the situation. a good chunk of that building seems to be gone and a huge fire remains. now, max, we've been going back and forth on the address. 116th street, 114th street, tell us where it is happening. >> the exact 116th, between 116th and 117th east harlem. east 116 and east 117 on park avenue on the west side of park avenue. north of 116. >> all right, max, you say you see at least 100 firefighters out there trying to battle the flames. what about people, injured people? do you see, i know you said you saw ambulances around there. do you see any people going to the ambulances? >> the problem we've seenings looks like people that have been affected by shrapnel. >> shrapnel. >> broken glass. i -- obviously from the

building. >> i'm sorry you've seen numerous people, affected by shrapnel, flying projectiles from this explosion and or collapse? >> yeah. all the glass, the glass windows. a lot of cars, there's, three cars in the middle of 116th street that obviously stopped dead from the explosion. there are definitely rocked from the explosion. >> wow. you're very familiar with this neighborhood? >> yes. my shop is here on 11th street. >> are there two -- we're looking at this aerial view right now and it looks like a partial building collapse if not two. how many buildings are we looking at that might be engulfed in flames right now? >> i would say four or five. >> oh, four or five. >> look at those firefighters. >> remember, the lot size is here 18 by 100. the 18 feet by 100. what you're looking at on normal sized build something normally

two buildings. >> look at those heroes. look at firefighters on the roof and in the bucket on top of that fire truck, how hot it must be. gosh, thank goodness they're there. let's go to jim smith. he is providing us these pictures from the helicopters. jim, what are you seeing that we're not? >> greg, just, first off, just as a reference point, it is along the what would be the southbound side or west side of park avenue. that is where the building is. you can see there are firefighters up on these power ladders -- tower ladders as well as adjacent rooftops trying to get the fire extinguished. their priorities would be to evacuate everybody that needs to be evacuated, get the fire itself under control and try to get anybody that may be trapped in the building. we can see, so far there are four of these tower ladders brought into the scene. they're just trying to get water into the building from all

angles to get that fire extinguished as well as the adjacent rooftops. we have been moved away from the area to help with the coordination or get the air traffic out of the area to help the fire department focus on what they need do but we can tell you on many of the adjacent rooftops there is debris all over the place as well as obviously down on the ground. we got a brief look at park avenue. there is just bricks and dust and debris covering the entire street in front of the building. again the fire department is here on the scene. major event. it is at least a three-alarm situation for the fire department. that is to bring in extra manpower, extra equipment to the scene. the fire itself is still not under control. they're trying to get that extinguished to get to neighboring buildings as soon as they can get into the affected building to check for survivors.

get everybody evacuated that they can. >> do me a favor. tilt the camera down if we can see anything of the source. i thought i saw flames a moment ago. actually i think i do now on the very lower right portion of that smokeyness. >> do you see people being taken out of the building or people rushed into ambulances? what do you see, jim? >> what we were able to see just a few minutes ago, that a perimeter, if you want to call it that had been set up two blocks in each direction. they're trying to keep everybody away from the area. at the same time and create a zone to bring anybody that was evacuated out to get them a safe distance away from the building as well as create stages areas for ems to set up and treat all the wounded they are anticipating in this incident. >> jim, stand by. we want to go to liz now. >> liz is near the scene right now. liz, what do you know? >> guys, around the corner of

madison here and 115th street which is about a block away from where the explosion happened, a lot of people are walking around the street with masks on because there is lot of smoke. the fire department brought in respiratory unit. they will start treating residents in this area. we talk to a lot of people who live on this corner, who work on this corner say they heard the explosion. i want to bring in people i just met, caesar and eric. they work in the building about a block away. tell me what you heard this morning. >> we was inside the building when we hear a big explosion coming on and the building just shake. i want to see what happened. and in front of the building, there were a lot of people that were there. where we see there is lot of smoke coming from the corner of, between 116 and 115th street and there is smoke coming from there. what i think, because we can't

go over there, maybe the building collapsed. maybe the explosion, you know. >> eric, you're saying it is a grocery store. there may be some apartments above it. tell me a little more about that building. >> it's a brand new building over there in the corner and they was fixing it. i don't know what happened. but i was in the parking lot cleaning and all of a sudden i heard a big explosion, boom, and then i make sure my coworker was all right. it was so strong, that it vibrated our sealing in our building. everything is okay in our building, thank god you. >> said part of the ceiling actually fell down. >> but it was okay, just the panels. >> guys, thank you so much. thank you very much. so again here on the corner of madison and 115th we have a lost ambulances responding. police are responding as well. we don't know if there are nip injuries in this area. police are concerned about the stability of the building. that is a big concern.

they're trying to get people out of that area of course. we'll be here talking to more people trying to piece together exactly what happened and bring you guys the latest from the area of this explosion in east harlem. >> thank you so much, liz. we know right now, i think we have gotten confirmed four are injured. we don't know what the status of their injuries are. >> 11 people, injuries list. >> it has gone up. >> let's go to jim smith one more time in the helicopter. liz, thanks for joining us. we'll be back with you shortly. jim, anything changing? >> greg, still very smokey, situation. the fire in the building, not, put out. not under control. there is just a lot of smoke crossing over manhattan. the smoke itself is blowing to the, so the west, southwest, so you can see it is just engulfing many surrounding buildings. again there are numerous firefighters on the scene pouring water, to try to get the

fire itself put out. what we've been trying to look at and try to distinguish, the buildings next door what we could see a solid wall. at this point what it indicates is that the building that was affected was a separate building that was next to these other ones as opposed to a portion of one building. at least again that is just an early indication. difficult to make out with all the smoke. there was debris thrown all over the place on neighboring rooftops. there is bricks and wood and all sorts of other building materials have been thrown all around and thrown down on the street below. we got a good look at all the bricks that have been thrown down on to park avenue along with everything else that would be inside of that building. at this point it is just an ongoing situation. the fire department is trying to get in there, get the fire extinguished, anybody in the

neighboring buildings that has to be evacuated out of the area and get into that area with the rubble and look for survivors. >> the thick, the smoke is so thick right now, people even walking nearby can be affected by this. it can really overtake you. >> live pictures right now of an active fire, a huge fire on park avenue between 116th street and 111th street. at 9:31 according to reports that is when the explosion happened, followed by at least a partial building collapse and this fire that still rages out of control. >> yeah, we're hearing from people in the neighborhood. they say that this building was having some kind of renovation work. they're not sure if it was occupied at the time but the problem is there are buildings on opposite sides, both sides that are occupied and there inlies the problem -- there in lies the problem. we know 11 people are injured.

we don't know the extent of the injuries. we know there are over 100 firefighters on the scene. if you look at the middle of the smoke you can see some of them on the adjacent apartment right next door on the roof. >> on the roof and on top of the ladder in the bucket there, real heroes in progress, in action. i want to go to tiwa chang. in the neighborhood of the fire. >> greg, i'm at 115th street and lexington avenue, two blocks from where this happened. some people just told me, a lot of people are wandering on the street, a lot of first-responders and ambulances. i see con edison pulling up. some people say from two blocks away they could feel the explosion in their house. it was an explosion and apparent collapse and fire now three alarms and more. some people question whether it was a gas explosion. one of the construction workers mentioned this. this is not clear. everyone is walking around the streets and trying to divert traffic away from the area.

you can still see smoke in the air. i'm sure you see that from the chapters as well. a lot of choppers overhead. police are pulling up as well. what is going on, people are little confused they're trying to figure out what is going on as well. the smoke is lingering. the initial pictures you saw black smoke which might support the idea there was in fact an explosion of the white smoke could come from after, you know from the building collapse you get that. the black smoke you just don't get from the collapse. that has to be some kind of fire usually. right now i'm looking up from the street and a lot of people taking pictures with their phones. you could see, i would say at least dozens of first-responders from fire trucks, police, ambulances and as i said before i see three or four con edison trucks which might support the idea of the possibility, though we don't know whether it was involved with any gas. but some building collapse right

next to the metro-north. i see the metro-north tracks there. there are no trains. they closed that down as well because they can't go the past the buildings on the metro-north tracks that is the situation here. it remind me of one ever those zones where the disaster is happening. back to you. >> before you go, we know fire fibers are trying to -- firefighters are trying to put out the fire. what are the wind conditions in favor of the firefighters right now? >> i would say there is not a lot of wind. i don't see any wind at all. minimal wind here. actually the most of it is the helicopters overhead. right now i don't feel wind coming from nature at all. i would think that would help the firefighters. >> okay. >> probably part of the reason we still have this cloud here. it is a very light wind if anything. >> so you know fdny just tweeted this. they're calling it a four-alarm fire. 1646 park avenue. multiple dwelling explosion and collapse. this is from the fire

department. >> the, might have been -- >> that is occupied building. there would be a lot of injuries. we know that. so the, right now they're just trying to divert a lost traffic and get the first-responders to the area. they have all arrived here and, you know, the cloud is lingering. it is not being blown away. the smoke is sort of hanging over here at 116th. i can see it on park and 115th. the cloud basically only shifted one block north from 114th to 115th and filling entire area. >> smoke is being generated. this fire is raging at this point unchecked. a little less smoke seemed like a little while ago. this fire seems to still be at its peak not yet under control as these firefighters do a herro rick job trying to bring it under control. >> this is not only a ringsdentialal building but house as piano store. lots of equipment in there as

well. i don't know whether they have flammable stuff in the basement to fix pianos but it's a fame most pianos store at 1646 park avenue. also a residential building. what do you mow? >> one of the first-responders on the scene, one of my sources telling me 1646 -- >> this is what it looked like before the explosion. >> right. 144 and 146. it is hard to see from the outside is that firefighters at this moment are going door-to-door because there is densely populated building. they're inside as well. >> look at this. watch the scene. we have slightly modern building on the left and again a slightly modern building on the right. in the middle is where the fire is. go back to the picture to nail down exactly what is on fire and what has collapsed. before picture we had it a moment ago. two structures look like a townhouse essentially. we have a modern building on the left, a modern building on the

right. you see the park, absolute piano, as you mentioned rosanna. >> yeah. >> looks like building on the left -- >> a church. >> on the corner there 116th there is also a restaurant too. there is a facility used as different restaurants by different names there. >> don't forget metro-north -- >> look at picture from street level, rosanna. almost reminiscent of 911. >> 9/11, you're right. totally. so far we don't think it has anything to do with terrorism. what we're hearing people were working on that building and may have like, done something, might have been an accident, but there was an explosion. people felt it. they heard it in the neighborhood. next thing you know, partial building collapse, fire. thick, thick smoke right now. >> and also, rosanna, the other thing too, i have source that is nypd bomb squad is on the scene to support what you're saying as well, in previous incidents when

they have strong suspicion there is a bomb or something of that nature that was intentionally done they clear a much wider perimeter. this is looking more and more like it is construction-related. >> let's go to liz, she is near the scene of the fire with more. liz, what are you experiencing right now? >> hi, guys. we're still on the corner of 115th and madison. i found lewis and yvette who ran over to the scene when they heard the explosion. tell me what you guys saw? >> there was a lost debris everywhere. complete 116th between park and madison is like debris all over the floor. every window from that those stores and apartments are blown out entirely. >> wow. tell me, a little bit more what you saw. was it chaotic or people running into the building? >> people were running out of their buildings, with their dogs like outside. some people said their windows blew out. we were sleeping and felt the shake to our building. we thought it was a bomb or

something but actually the building blew up. basically half the building is gone. we don't know if people are dead or anything like that. that is basically what we saw. >> all right. great. you guys live a few blocks away and saw the explosion. >> yes, 112 and fifth avenue. we felt the rumble through there. we heard people talking on their phones, people as far as 168th felt the tremble. i don't know how severe it was. it was loud enough because everybody woke up. >> guys, thank you very much. that gives you an idea how strong this explosion was. i spoke to kids a ago bet getting let out of school. their school officials decided it is too unsafe for them to be inside of their building at the frederick douglass academy on 114th between 7th and 8th avenues which is good distance away from here. i guess the principal thought it was good idea to let kids out from school. we'll give you a live look what we're dealing with here on

115th and madison. we had the fire department's respiratory buses handing out masks to people in the area because there is still a lot of smoke lingering around. the wind is sort of pushing it in our direction. it is difficult for a lot of people to breathe and inhale the air in this area. the fire department is still responding here. we saw the bomb squad drive by. there are a lot of people responding to this scene in and around this area. so we'll continue talking to people who saw what happened, who live in this area. we'll bring you guys latest. >> thank you so much, liz. we also have to remember that metro-north has been suspended into grand central on this line that goes by park avenue. >> not just in abundance of caution. the train goes right by this scene. basically the front yard of this address is the netmetro-north train tracks. >> inez is standing by with an update. eye necessary, what do you know.

>> they are suspending service in and out of grand central terminal, the hudson line, the harlem line including the new haven line. when service will resume i can't tell you that. that could affect the evening commute. we have no service out of the grand central terminal. they stopped all the trains at nearest stop. that would be 115th street if you're heading southbound or northbound. those trains are not leaving grand central terminal at all. >> this is terrible scene. we'll bump out of local coverage for a moment. they have been doing a fantastic job getting to the scene to let us know what is going on there. there is the unbelievable open shot we have of the firefighters working so hard to get this thing under control. one or perhaps two residential buildings, 1644, 1646, affected by this on park avenue in new york city. it is now being called a four-alarm fire. there are 39 units on the scene.

169 members, 168 members of the fire department of new york city are working to bring this blaze under control. one confirmed person at a local hospital in that area they do expect there will be receiving more patients as this moves along. and a lot of questions about how many people may have been in the building when this happened. the fire department working very hard right now to get them rescued. anybody who is trapped in that building. some of it was under construction and refurbishment is indication. no idea what caused it. con edison trucks on the scene leading some to wonderthis is indeed a gas explosion but we're working to get to whether or not that is the case. bill as a look at the area we're talking about here in manhattan. bill: just want to give our viewers perspective from what we're seeing now. up sate new york is in this direction. this is jersey over here. this is the hudson river coming down. for viewers at home this area is

manhattan island. we'll take the cursor and go as close as we can. see the green area here? that is the northern edge ever central park. midtown manhattan, times square, many place that is you might be familiar with, the empire state building would be down here off the screen south of central park. this is harlem up here. you get around 110th street and north of this you get into harlem. this location you go into a little bit, guys. at 116 and park avenue based on the information that we were just taking off our colleagues there at fox 5. this is also a train line. freeze it right there. there is a train line that runs right along this area and looking at some of the images coming across on twitter and facebook online, there is a building there. it was about five or six stories tall and it is flanked by two separate buildings on each side. but that center build something just gone. there are bricks all around it. you see the smoke billowing up

as well. this is 116th street and park avenue in the northern part of manhattan island, martha. back to you. martha: let's take a look, as you say we're getting so many images that are coming in, both the live images and also pictures people are taking on the ground. if we take that one on the right-hand side full for a moment because it shows you the side version of it. it is as if the building literally melted down and they're under a sea of bricks on the street there as you take a look what is just a deafing amount of damage. people obviously very concerned about smoke inhalation and people might have been hit on the street. cars are ruined that were parked along there. that is obviously material concern as well. there is the live shot on the left-hand side of your screen. 168 members of the fire department of new york city on this scene. we're sharing our coverage. let's dip back into fox nyw and

their live coverage on the screen at 116th. let's listen in. >> any way you can show us a live picture on the streets what it looks like? if you saw the picture i'm looking at right now there is no way president metro-north can operate in that area right now. >> rosanna, we first arrived on the scene there was naturally debris on the train tracks which runs right down the middle of park avenue. we've been moved out of the area. air traffic has been moved away from the scene to allow the police and fire efforts to concentrate and cut down on say abrasions in the area. -- vibrations. there is substantial amount of debris. that is an understatement. there are bricks basically covering an entire block of park avenue as well as naturally all the vehicles, the sidewalk, and even being thrown as far away as the train tracks which run right down the middle of park avenue. >> the fire rages appears unabated so far. the explosion happened at 9:30

other 9:31 just over an hour ago. four-alarm fire. at least 11 people injured. no word on the seriousness of their injuries. we've been watching this now for nearly an hour and that smoke is still being generated unchecked -- >> what is going on here? >> looks like someone is trying to cross a line they're not supposed to cross and told get back by the cops the. >> maybe he knows somebody, there are people inside the building and very, very upset. lisa evers, you have new information on the injuries? >> this some cog on scene from sources at scene, first-responders. they're telling me the injury count is up to 15. that is people they have actually seen and begun to process and determine whether or not they need to take them to emergency rooms and give them further treatment or maybe give them oxygen. we can expect that number to rise. >> we have liz close to the fire, safe distance away. she has more information.

liz? >> hi, guys. 115th and madison still. i met blanca, at the scene of the es explosion. tell us a little bit about what happened, blanca. >> i stopped. went off at 115. went to the deli. as i was coming out of deli a few seconds, explosion just like really, really big. it was a lady, two ladies and me and another gentleman waiting to go into the store. all of sudden we heard this big explosion and fire. fire was really coming out. we called 911 to try to get the cops here and everything. then the cardboard flew and it had like big nails and everything. it fell, we all hunched down to protect ourselves. it fell right on the floor. that is when all the glass from that store broke. three of the glass case. they just threw it. we were just trying to protect ourselves. >> it just blew out the building? >> yeah. it was a smell and a lot of the

white debris was really coming. so i got out of here and closing and everything. finally the police came and fire engine and everything. i heard they said there was probably a gas explosion. they had just made a new building. we think it is that but we don't know if the church where that actually happened. >> blank can, thank you so much. she was one of the ones that walked away uninsured. a lot of people were not so lucky. we're here at 115th and madison, a still a lot of smoke. ambulances standing by. american red cross also just got to this area. people are still covering their mouths because the smoke is really difficult to bear near and around that explosion. so we're just a block away, a block away right now. a lot of work the police have been doing has been diverting traffic from this area, trying to clear it out to make a little bit more of a not such a chaotic

scene here. all traffic is moving down to 115th street off the madison. they're trying to keep that area of park here. we'll stay on the corner to continue to talk to more people and send you more stories and send them to you guys. >> short distance away from the explosion. adrian sanchez i believe her name is? adrian, are you there. >> yeah. >> hi, how are you, what did you see? >> i was in a restaurant at 116th and we heard this big explosion and the whole -- whole building was shaking because of this explosion of. went inside to see what happened. sounded like a bomb. i ran into the place and i.

people are running out from the place and it was a big -- >> adrian, where is the restaurant that you're in right now? >> on -- [inaudible] >> so you're a few blocks away from the scene? >> yes. >> adrian thank you for joining us. want to go back to the chopper, jim myth. jim, i'm anxiously waiting for the smoke to abate. >> i'm hearing it is five-alarm fire now. it has gone up. >> five-alarm fire. actually i will tell you for the first time you see more of the building on the side, maybe ever so slightly. the smoke has diminished just a little bit. >> just a bit. whether that is a sign the fire is being knocked down.

the wind is picking up progressively through the morning. the wind could be helping to push some of that smoke out. area. but in any event it is still heavy smoke blowing for a good block to two blocks across toward madison avenue and direction towards fifth avenue. but it does appear that the smoke diminishing and more surrounding buildings are becoming visible. the fire at this point by no means under control. the fire department will continue to get at that, to the knock the fire down and then, specialized units, search-and-rescue units are able to get into the collapse area and look for anybody that might still be inside of that, what was that building. >> jim, i actually have some pictures that somebody tweeted of firefighters on the ground, fighting the fire, by the building and it looks like, there is not much of a building

left there, greg. >> just complete debris and devastation. go to that before picture one more time. looks like we pinpointed is no longer there. the semi, modern, 1990s building on left and townhouses in the middle, those two structures -- >> this is what looks like now. >> what was destroyed no oh, my goodness, if anybody was there in the building, they will not only have to fight the fire but go through the rubble to find them. >> they will have to shore up whatever wreckage is there left of the building to do the search. >> lisa, how many people have you heard have been injured so far. >> i heard so far 15. some have been taken to lennox hill hospital. when you see that kind of devastation let's hope the number doesn't go higher. >> see the firefighters on the roof of that building. must be structurally sound. but what a job. those guys in the bucket, they have been facing that smoke for

at least 40 minutes they have been up there. >> for a long time. remember too as they're going in the search, in these kind of situations, how they do the search, it has to be very, very careful. they have to be careful for the firefighters. even more importantly for people they're trying to rescue because whatever is remains standing could collapse at anytime. it is really kind of a race against the clock. >> this perhaps happening on one of most famous thorough fares in the world this is park avenue. northern peaker avenue and metro-north goes right by this location above-ground. all metro-north service we are told has been suspended until further notice. and you see what's happening on the trip tracks right in front of this location, you understand why. >> the debris, has gone everywhere. you talked about it before. reminiscent of nine eleven the way the -- 9/11 way the debris is gathered everywhere. >> we see the smokey scene on the street.

i was there september 11th. this is much smaller. >> they're saying it is not terrorism at all. they believe it was work being done, construction work on the building. >> i heard from police sources, nypd, bomb squad remains on the scene. they have not given all clear. >> that was fox 5, wnyw, row sans that scott, greg kelly doing great work filtering all the information that comes in and keeping it accurate. that can be a difficult job to do. we don't know what happened. we have a building that has been destroyed. looks to be almost entirely gone based on images we're seeing. as to why, we do not know, martha. martha: looking at melted cars in front of this building. everything melted debris rained down. there is only one person in the hospital. one thing we don't know how many people were in the building and whether or not we'll see more injured or whether the construction that was going on in the building which we heard reports of, meant that there

were not too many people inside which is what we're all hoping at this point. we just don't know. bill: a lot we don't know. second day in a row we've had good weather in the northeast. that is very rare as the rest of the country knows in 2014 in this winter we're about wrapping up. pat brosnan on the phone, former nypd detective. pat, good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: you think about a gas line explodeding or what runs through your head if you see a six-story building go up as it did? >> bill, without knowing what renovations going on at the site it is difficult to speculate. gas is the most likely culprit. understand when there is construction going on in the buildings there is building materials, welding tanks, hot burning items in the building as part of the renovation. there could be any of a couple of different materials that could have caused a explosion.

the earwitness accounts are pretty solid that explosion preceded the fire that sound pretty solid. bill: one of the eyewitnesses thought it was a construction site. do you have more on that? >> i do not yet. we're poking around a little bit because we're on some of those sites up in that area in terms of providing security at some of those construction sites. so, i'm waiting, actually standing by to get a little more information as well as number of units at the building and any renovation would be at that location but certainly it is an ever-growing horror show. seems like they got the four key players there, bill. with the nypd establishing a safe perimeter with the bomb squad. they have con ed there. i'm sure they're trying to ascertain the origin of the explosion and defeat of passing on the explosion to the following buildings. there is always concern with surrounding buildings up north and south of 1646. of course the fire, the fd,

five-alarmer haven't had one of them in a while, thank god. bill: pat, what does that mean when it goes to five-alarm? >> i don't know the precise formula, bill, but numerical counting of number of ladders and engines assigned to the blaze. i think that is most severe. there may be a six-alarmer. i never heard of it. that is extreme high-end of emergency in terms of threat to life and potential damage to property. so that is massive, massive blaze. bill: tom, thank you. listen, we'll, rather, pat, thank you on the phone there. 45 minutes ago, by the way, pat, we were told 13firefighters were on the scene. that -- 138 firefighters. who do we have again? oner is onm van necessary, with the local fox network, wnyw. let's listen in. >> control is, that is very serious. is it that unusual for a fire to burn like this.

>> no it is not. as much water you see going on there, doesn't mean all water is getting to the fire. >> i also wanted to ask, what kind of explosives or what kind of flammable liquid would be inside that building that caused quite a commotion, basically you know, collapsed two buildings and spread debris all over the place and felt 35 blocks away? >> yeah, well i'm not sure if you felt it 35 blocks away. people might say they did. that's pretty fire. enormous explosion from buildup of gas. whether or not there were flammable liquid in there i have no idea but i didn't see any black smoke, didn't see anything unusual. they did say it was pretty toxic. which makes you think there could be something unusual but it is hard to tell at this point. right now they're just worried, they're shutting down gas lines i'm sure, with any kind of fuel lines that still might be leaking but it is hard to get in there.

it is a narrow street at that point of park avenue. probably difficult finding these line and getting them shut down. they're trying real hard to get in there and that's a difficult thing to do at this point. >> commissioner, lisa evers here, may i ask you the smoke at first we saw was almost pure white and starting to turn into a brownish color. does that indicate anything to you? >> well at this point you would think it would be almost all white. that is what i'm sure got them baffled. there is something burning down there that might be a little unusual, that the water is not getting to. it could be loads of debris blocking the real source of the fire. it could be fed by a gas line, fuel line. just don't, can't tell at this point. those guys, the chiefs that are there, they're as good as they get, firefighters there are as good as they get. they're doing the best they can and they're really worried about whether or not anybody is in

there. if nobody is in there, then they will figure it out. if there is somebody in there they want to get some help as soon as they can. >> commissioner, he was commissioner under rudy giuliani who was on duty on september 11th, 2001, stay with us. we want to check in with another reporter. >> lid yaw is at metro-north. what is the situation there. >> greg, we're here on 125th at madison avenue. you can see the metro north station. you can see the train completely stopped on the elevated tracks right there. commuters are milling about to see what they can do. there is the train right there and just stopped. we are hearing there is debris on the tracks and that is what is preventing the train from moving at all. right now we're hearing that metro-north service is suspended indefinitely. you can hear some sirens in the background. i spoke to some witnesses here in the area. and they tell me, they heard the

explosion as far away as five, six, seven blocks. this is obviously a very intense explosion. i also saw cell phone video. there was a fire began in the bottom of the building there. we're here, what you're looking at is 125th and park avenue. you can see the metro-north station just completely stopped there. that is because there is debris on the tracks. fire trucks have been rushing to the scene non-stop, going over to 116th and park avenue where the main scene is, let the truck go by. [sirens] >> well it's a five-alarm fire, five-alarm fire -- >> you're looking at 125th. we're here at 125th and madison avenue in east harlem. a we're here by the metro-north station. the metro-north train is completely stopped because of

debris from the explosion. we're hearing that the building was adjacent to the tracks. a pretty incredible scene when we drove by. it is very, very busy here. >> lid yaw, thank you so much. we'll be back shortly as we. firefighters on the ladder and roof next door, that is tough, tough job. >> this replaces two buildings. we're a little smaller than the building on the right. they were residential buildings. people lived there. on the bottom there were people who worked there. >> let's go to liz dolem liz is on the scene a block or so away with more. liz? >> greg and rosanna, i just got this gentleman. you own the building right next door to were the explosion happened. >> since last night we smelled gas in the building. since last night, when i was, i was leaving to go to work we see

like a smell of gas. and my wife called me, like, 9:30 and the building next door is closed. so that is why i run to come. >> what is your, what business do you own next door? >> no, i don't own business. i live up there. >> you live over there. >> i live over there with my wife. >> you smelled gas yesterday. >> yeah i smelled gas yesterday. like my neighbor next door downstairs she comes talk to us, making sure, nothing is leaking. we check everything. so nobody had a leak. everything was okay. >> did you hear an explosion this morning? were you home when all this happened? >> no. i was at work that time. i was at work and my wife called me about the explosion. >> is your wife okay? what did she say happened? what did she say. >> i am trying to call. i can not reach her. somebody told me maybe, she got evacuated to go to 68th. >> sir, stay with me for one second. stay right here. we'll show everybody the rest of the scene.

don't go anywhere. further down here, guys, on madison the smoke is just unbelievable on 116th street. it is so different even from where we are just a block away. i took a picture and posted it on twitter. you can not see more than 10 feet in front of you. just a little while ago they were wheeling out three people on stretchers a lot of people are dealing good while after the explosion happened. this occurred two hours ago. they're bringing people out in many a ambulances, treating them right now. police are setting up these hard barricade in areas to clear the traffic out. there is an unbelievable police presence and the fire department is obviously still doing their work but trying clear people out. area where the explosion happens they can clear everyone out of here and get people to the hospital. >> liz, thank you very much. we'll go back to the helicopter

and ever so slightly, not really, that fire is still raging. >> looks like it is still pretty heavy. we're hearing 168 firefighters are on the scene right now. we're hearing that they're handing out smoke masks to people in the area. >> sure. >> i want you to take a quick look at the picture right now that somebody tweeted. look at the police officers in the area. what does this remind you of? kind of a frightening, frightening picture this is what is happening on park avenue and 116th street as we speak right now. >> we have serious situation. thank goodness whatever is happening is much, much smaller scale than the tragedy of 13 years ago. yes, the scene quite reminiscent, the mood, the feel, most certainly. >> you're hearing, we just talked to somebody on the street said they smelt gas in the area yesterday. there are unconfirmed report that that particular building had some kind of a gas problem

five months ago. we're trying to get that con firmed. >> the gentleman who lived next door smelled the gas last night as we mentioned. we do have documented of cases of building and house explosions over past several years. don't want to call them routine but they do happen more than once a year. buildings demolished because after gas leak. homes demolished. we had one not too long ago from new jersey. >> we had a report from the owner of the church, not in that building right now, he said he has his church in the building and there was odor of gas at the church last night. that is what pastor of church is saying. >> we have that from two witnesses, one occupant and one neighbor. let's go back to jim smith, he is in the helicopter. jim, it is still not under control. >> that is correct, greg. and you know at times the smoke seems like diminishing.

there appears the case but smoke coming out. building seems as bad as it was when we arrived just about an hour ago. near department is trying to get it under control at this point. they're trying to get the fire extinguished so the special search-and-rescue units can get into the collapse area and look for anybody that still might be in the able are and look for any survivors in there. get to heavy smoke. there is heavy smoke toward madison and fifth avenue. heavy wind blowing in that direction. we see more of the adjacent building. you see the exterior wall of that building. with firefighters up on the

rough of that building which would indicate at that at this point they don't have immediate structural concerns from that building and the building on the south side as well. we saw a lot of debris up on that building. earlier we saw firefighters up there. we don't know if they're still on rooftop but they're spraying water into the affected building from all different angles to get this fire knocked down. >> jim, stand by. fast forward a couple hours of tonight's commute will be a rough one. one of main arteries in and out. city is right in front of where that fire is taking place right now. >> right. we've seen some pictures of that area it looks like debris was blown on the area and across the metro-north tracks. >> it is underground on park avenue until about 97th, 98th street. bill: we're watching very latest here, what comes next. it has been an eventful hour

trying to figure out, not one but two buildings. seems to be five or six stories in height. mainly consisting of bricks and those buildings are no longer. martha: lisa evers, reporter on the ground for wnyw, interviewing a man giving us first eyewitness accounts, that he and his wife smelled gas last night and neighbor came to them, and said is the smell coming from your apartment? according to them there was presence of a gas smell last night, there are obviously con edison trucks on the scene as well. gas explosion is one of the most substantial theories that is going at this point. on the first levels of these go buildings, on the left-hand side is spanish christian church. on the right-hand side was this piano store you heard about. also speaking with greg kelly and roseanna scott moments ago, thomas van essen, fire commissioner under rudy giuliani during nine eleven.

he said color of the smoke, it should be white but still pouring gray. that led him to believe there could be loads of debris blocking the real source of this fire. and a big concern right now about whether or not there are people that are trapped inside that building. firefighters said their number one goal is to find that out and get them if they are. bill: the eyewitness said he smelled gas, a strong smell of gas just last night. we're trying to figure out whether or not there was construction happening here. one of eyewitnesses said they were building inside that particular structure. the department of buildings website tells fox that no recent permits were issued at this address. and no recent violations have been on file either. so that will add to the mystery. but you think about gas right away and we've been in touch with the fbi as well. our bureau here in new york. the fbi is watching this, aware of it. one comment, to one of our fox producers it look likes like a gas leak. it is very preliminary and they emphasize that part,

preliminary. we're in the early stages. martha: we are in the early stages and is a five-alarm fire which indication of basically how large the reaction force is to this. you've seen shrews of fire engines -- slew of fire engines heading toward the location. we know one person is being treated at hospital. but they're also being treated on the scene according to local reporters for some minor injuries that have happened. that is the big question, whether we'll see more injuries or more fatalities from inside the building. we don't know that yet. bill: one update, from the hospital in harlem that patient is quote, having serious trauma. one patient in the e.r. let's hope the numbers stay low as we move throughout the day. this is residential area above the piano shop and above the church. there are several apartments above, not uncommon in new york or any of the five boroughs, the question in new york, 9:00 in

the morning how many people were home at that time. martha: gas explosion, the fbi says that is very preliminarying take what happened here. terrorism does not appear to be issue. they're investigating that. bill: our discussion continues with our colleagues of "happening now." see you tomorrow everybody, here on fox. >> bill and martha, we start off with fox news alert from new york city. police and firefighters responding to a massive building explosion and fire in northern manhattan. welcome to "happening now." i'm jenna lee. >> i'm jon scott. multiple people reportedly injured. at least one of them seriously according to local reports. residents report hearing a large explosion in this apartment building in east harlem. it happened around 9:00 a.m. i've seen that building many times. i ride the metro-north commuter train past that site every single day. and i passed it this morning. a couple of hours before this explosion. the. it is a