BREAKING: Fire Spurs Evacuation Of Sheepshead Bay Road Businesses

Thick clouds of black smoke billowed through a Sheepshead Bay Road building this afternoon, forcing the evacuation of Dynasty Sports (1612 Sheepshead Bay Road) and Forces of Nature (1614 Sheepshead Bay Road).

Firefighters rushed to the scene following a 4:00 p.m. call that Dynasty Sports was filling with smoke.

According to the employee who made the call, she and her colleagues were cleaning the store when they began to notice a strong stench coming from the back room.

“It seemed like nothing, but when they opened the door there was a big fire in there,” the employee said.

The room was used as storage, and was filled to the ceiling with garbage bags of shoes and other products, employees said.

“There was a wire, I don’t know, I guess it was a little broken, and it was touching the garbage bags and it started to burn, I guess,” said the 911 caller.

The smoke filled the storefront, then spread to a handful of apartments on the building’s upper levels and to Forces of Nature next door, forcing an evacuation. As firefighters wrapped up their response, residents of the upper floor gathered items to spend the night elsewhere.

Firefighters on the scene did not say what caused the fire, but noted that no one was hurt.

Sheepshead Bay Road south of Jerome Avenue, and part of Jerome Avenue itself, was closed to traffic for nearly an hour as part of the response.