A Christmas market has been destroyed by fire in New York City.
Flames tore through the popular attraction at around 4am on Monday, destroying 18 stores.
The market is located right next to the Macy’s department store in Herald Square, Midtown Manhattan.
Images from the scene showed firefighters braving a bright yellow and orange blaze in the middle of the holiday market houses adorned with Christmas tree-like branch decorations.
A dozen fire department units with 60 personnel responded to the scene on Broadway between 34th and 36th streets, and they had the blaze under control within an hour.
One firefighter suffered serious injuries that were not life threatening and was transported to NYU Langone Health’s Tisch Hopsital.
Herald Holiday Market by Urbanspace debuted on December 6 as ‘the newest holiday destination’ in Midtown and offered ‘wide range of handcrafted gifts, artisanal products and festive treats across two city blocks’, according to the 34th Street website.
‘This must-see destination in the heart of New York City during holiday season features a multitude of vendors from New York and beyond,’ it states.
The cause of the fire was still under investigation as of Monday night.
Urbanspace, which operates the market, vowed ‘unwavering’ support to the small business vendors.
‘We are currently coordinating with each impacted vendor to explore ways to help them during this critical time,’ the company told NBC New York.
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All that was left of Spoonable Spirits, a vendor selling desserts infused with liquor, was a blackened refrigerator.
‘I was like where is my booth, I don’t understand where my booth is. It’s literally gone,’ its owner, Kelli Lipson, told the news outlet.
‘All the hard work gone. I feel awful for the market organizers too, they work on these for so long and I think they wanted to prove Macy’s could be the next big holiday market.’
Hours after the fire, the south end of the market opened for business, but it was not clear if the north end that suffered the brunt of the damage would be back up and running this season.
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