Seven-Alarm Brooklyn Warehouse Fire Burns Official Records

This story has been big news in NYC today because of its huge size and how far the smoke could be seen and smelled. But, it is even more interesting because of what burned in the warehouse - RECORDS - from state and city agencies.

A seven-alarm fire engulfed a warehouse crammed with official documents near the waterfront in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Saturday morning.

Groups that said they had records stored in the warehouse include the state court system, the city Administration for Children’s Services, the city Health and Hospitals Corporation, and members of the Greater New York Hospital Association.

Recently, Sheldon Silver was arrested on major corruption charges and word is Preet Bharara is after many more - and even bigger fish in the corrupt, entrenched ruling elite of New York, including Cuomo. Bharara shows no signs of backing down either and seems to be on a mission. He is currently looking at the NY state Senate majority leader.

There was a thread about that here -www.abovetopsecret.com...

Is it possible in light of Preet Bharara's apparent war on corruption in New York, that there may have been something that needed to burn?

A call to CitiStorage, the storage company, wasn't immediately returned. By the afternoon, the CitiStorage website appeared to have been taken offline.

The fire was very suspicious, with an earlier attempt thwarted -

Fire officials were initially called to the warehouse at around 4:30 a.m., and a small fire at the location was declared under control about 40 minutes later, the FDNY said. But at 6:30 a.m., they were called back and found a far more serious fire underway - one extensive enough that firefighters were unable to enter the facility and instead began battling the blaze from outside.

cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com...
www.nbcnewyork.com...

What a strange coincidence !!!



Where there's a will there's a way.

originally posted by: xuenchen
What a strange coincidence !!!

Where there's a will there's a way.

Where there's smoke there's fire.

a reply to: xuenchen

Perfect day for total destruction as well -

Conditions almost could not be better for fire, or worse for firefighters, Chief Leonard said, with stiff winds feeding the flames and ice coagulating around fire hydrants and pump trucks.

cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com...

They never let a crisis go to waste

Obviously there are financial records stored there - here's a pic of what someone found -

Usually you get excuses such as :

The hard drives crashed!

The records were accidentally destroyed.

The records were shredded in error.

We can't locate them.

WELCOME TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Any area of the Government will now be able to say ....

Sorry Your Honor, the records were destroyed by fire. So ..... we file for a dismissal.

Typical!

P

From the Citistorage website -

Our robust project management team has indexed over 40 million files for a variety of industries. Typical applications include purging medical and municipal records...

Among the industries we serve:
Healthcare
Legal
Financial Services
Business & Corporate
Government Agencies
Special Interest Organizations

www.citistorage.com...

originally posted by: Maluhia
This story has been big news in NYC today because of its huge size and how far the smoke could be seen and smelled. But, it is even more interesting because of what burned in the warehouse - RECORDS - from state and city agencies.

A seven-alarm fire engulfed a warehouse crammed with official documents near the waterfront in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Saturday morning.

Groups that said they had records stored in the warehouse include the state court system, the city Administration for Children’s Services, the city Health and Hospitals Corporation, and members of the Greater New York Hospital Association.

Recently, Sheldon Silver was arrested on major corruption charges and word is Preet Bharara is after many more - and even bigger fish in the corrupt, entrenched ruling elite of New York, including Cuomo. Bharara shows no signs of backing down either and seems to be on a mission. He is currently looking at the NY state Senate majority leader.

There was a thread about that here -www.abovetopsecret.com...

Is it possible in light of Preet Bharara's apparent war on corruption in New York, that there may have been something that needed to burn?

A call to CitiStorage, the storage company, wasn't immediately returned. By the afternoon, the CitiStorage website appeared to have been taken offline.

The fire was very suspicious, with an earlier attempt thwarted -

Fire officials were initially called to the warehouse at around 4:30 a.m., and a small fire at the location was declared under control about 40 minutes later, the FDNY said. But at 6:30 a.m., they were called back and found a far more serious fire underway - one extensive enough that firefighters were unable to enter the facility and instead began battling the blaze from outside.

cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com...
www.nbcnewyork.com...

Those guys think of everything don't they!

Just another full service they offer!

Oy!

a reply to: Maluhia

Typical applications include purging medical and municipal records...

Well, these records were certainly purged!

They delivered as promised.

Would be interesting to find out two things.

Who really owns Citistorage and ...

How much is the insurance worth and when was it last increased.

P

a reply to: pheonix358

Well, these records were certainly purged!

Haha...

Privately owned.*

Key Executives For CitiStorage, LLC
Mr. Louis Weiner Chief Executive Officer and President
Ms. Elaine Brodsky Founder
Max Waldrop Vice President of Operations
Brian Field Vice President of Sales
Noelle Keating Vice President of Customer Service Compensation as of Fiscal Year 2014.

I believe I read that the land it sits on is worth $100mil - maybe more now that it's "unencumbered". Perhaps another angle.

ETA:

Elaine Brodsky is the former co-owner of CitiStorage, LLC – an archival storage and records management company, located in Brooklyn, NY. The company, founded in 1990, grew into the largest independent, privately-owned, single- location records-storage company in the United States. In December, 2007, Elaine and her partners sold a majority interest to a NYSE company.

*Update -

Norcross, Ga.—May 1, 2014 — Recall Holdings Limited (ASX: REC), a global leader in information management, today announced that it has acquiredCitiStorage, LLC, a leading records management company. The acquisition of $47.2 million will be funded from cash and existing facilities.

www.recall.com...
greenpointchamber.com...
www.bloomberg.com...

originally posted by: Maluhia
a reply to: pheonix358

Well, these records were certainly purged!

Haha...

Privately owned.

Key Executives For CitiStorage, LLC
Mr. Louis Weiner Chief Executive Officer and President
Ms. Elaine Brodsky Founder
Max Waldrop Vice President of Operations
Brian Field Vice President of Sales
Noelle Keating Vice President of Customer Service Compensation as of Fiscal Year 2014.

I believe I read that the land it sits on is worth $100mil - maybe more now that it's "unencumbered". Perhaps another angle.

www.bloomberg.com...

You may be right on the other angle....

From your link you provided, just something I thought funny, ironic (not haha), and enlightening.

CitiStorage, LLC provides records management services. Its services include warehouse and climate controlled records storage, file and record retrieval, shredding and destruction, document scanning and imaging, packing/purging of records....

It WAS planned! DUH, DUH, DUH!

More on the Cuomo connection, for those who may be unfamiliar with New York politics-

Bharara was highly critical of Cuomo for shutting down the Moreland Commission. Though he hasn't said whether the governor's office is a target, the Silver takeout has shaken the power structure.

The message is more than clear: The U.S. attorney is following a directional map left behind by Moreland and is trying to establish a new legal standard, heretofore considered business as usual in the great hog trough of Albany, namely that it is a felony to accept payments from anyone seeking favors from the state.

The Moreland Commision was set up by Cuomo to root out corruption in Albany (I believe as a campaign promise) - but then abruptly shut down by the very same Cuomo.

www.lohud.com...

VERY interesting, OP.

Especially considering the fact that another fire destroyed documents in Russia only a few hours before. That is some coincidence indeed.

Fire in major Russian library destroys 1m historic documents

Leading scientist speaks of cultural ‘Chernobyl’ after blaze ravages 2,000 sq metres of Moscow institute holding papers dating to 16th century

Fortov said about 15% of the collection had been damaged at the library, which includes one of the world’s richest collections of Slavic language works, but also documents from Britain, Italy and the US.

I wonder if there is any connection here...

So they don't scan documents and store them on a hard drive before shipping them to a warehouse? How convenient!

a reply to: Sparkymedic

It's NY government - they're not that advanced. Although the article did say some groups were in the process.

HUMMMM Why would you even think of storing important documents in a non fire suppression building unless???? Doesn't sound right at all or legal

Just some information that may be interesting:

President and CEO of CitiStorage is Louis Weiner, still listed as such at present. He then became Senior Lead at Recall, a company who apparently bought CitiStorage?

although that %40en-US]link doesnt go anywhere, at least right now im 404ing.

They seem to be very pro RFID

originally posted by: Sparkymedic
So they don't scan documents and store them on a hard drive before shipping them to a warehouse? How convenient!

We're sorry, all of the drives and backups were being stored in the warehouse.

Yeah, that could work.

a reply to: mikell

that`s the same thing I thought when I saw the picture.who stores government records in an old run down warehouse on a wharf,that`s just asking for trouble. A big storm could flood that place, I assumed government records would be kept in a nice safe industrial park with secure updated warehouse.