A massive fire erupted at Tiffany & Co’s newly renovated flagship 5th Avenue store in New York City on Thursday morning.
The New York City Fire Department said in a statement they received a report of an electrical fire at the iconic jewellery store at 9.38am, as employees were preparing to open.
Two people who were injured in the fire were taken to hospital. Their conditions were not immediately known.
Dramatic overhead images from a CBS News helicopter showed FDNY officers attempting to stamp out the blaze, as huge plumes of smoke billowed from a ground-floor window at the Midtown store.
At its height, 14 fire appliances and 80 firefighters were battling the blaze, which began in an underground utility vault, the FDNY said.
BREAKING: Fire from underground below Tiffany & Co building in midtown Manhattan banging noise can be heard from below pic.twitter.com/2y9215ePfy
— Jayne Zirkle (@JayneZirkle) June 29, 2023
The store was reopened in April after a three-year renovation project, which was estimated to have cost $500m.
A glitzy reopening event was attended by stars Gal Gadot, Florence Pugh, Michael B. Jordan and Pharell Williams, and featured performances by Katy Perry and Mark Ronson, the company said in a press release.
The almost 10,000-square metre store stands 10 stories high, and is on the same iconic New York block as Trump Tower.
not the new Tiffany’s building being on fire pic.twitter.com/8cB20EIYyy
— seth (@seththeile) June 29, 2023
The renovated 5th Avenue store houses tens of millions of dollars of art by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Damien Hirst and Julian Schnabel, according to Vogue.
The store was made famous in the 1961 Audrey Hepburn film Breakfast at Tiffany's.
Tiffany’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Luxury brand LVMH purchased Tiffany for $15.8bn in 2021.
LVMH’s chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault is the second wealthiest man in the world with an estimated net worth of $220bn.
