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Fire Breaks Out Next Door to Anderson Cooper's Firehouse

By DNAinfo Staff on December 2, 2010 10:39am  | Updated on December 2, 2010 3:15pm

By Olivia Scheck

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — Firefighters didn't get any help from Anderson Cooper putting out a fire that broke out in a Greenwich Village apartment Thursday morning next door to a firehouse owned by the CNN anchor.

The fire erupted on the top floor of a five-story walk-up at 86 West 3rd Street, adjacent to the firehouse that the famed CNN anchor is currently renovating into a swanky abode complete with fire poles.

No one was injured in the fire, though three windows were blown out and replaced with plastic sheets. Shattered glass littered the sidewalk below in front of the popular Italian eatery Il Mulino, which occupies the ground floor of the apartment building where the fire broke out.

Three windows on the top floor of the five-story apartment building were blown out following the fire.
Three windows on the top floor of the five-story apartment building were blown out following the fire.
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DNAinfo/Olivia Scheck

"Anderson was relieved that there were no injuries and that his favorite New York restaurant, Il Mulino, wasn't damaged," a spokesperson for Cooper said.

Firefighters made it to the scene quickly despite not having the use of the firehouse next door, which was purchased by Cooper late last year for $4.3 million after being abandoned in 2006.

The FDNY was alerted about the fire at 4:17 a.m. and firefighters from Engine 24 and Ladder 5, located on the corner of Houston Street and Avenue of the Americas, arrived at the scene just thee minutes later, according to fire officials.

The fire was out by 4:45 a.m., an FDNY spokesman said.

The house owned by Cooper was built in 1906 and used as a Fire Patrol Station until 2006 when the Board of Fire Underwriters decided to close it. The Fire Patrol program was shut down completely in 2006 when it stop being funded.

Cooper found himself in the middle of a dispute with local preservationists earlier in the year who feared the historic Fire Patrol building would be torn down or drastically altered. The dispute was settled when the newsman agreed to preserve parts of the fire house, including its fire poles.