NEW HAVEN, CT – Before dawn, around 6:45 a.m., New Haven firefighters were called to a fire in a large, two-story brick building at 36 River St.

Shortly after arriving, firefighters reported a “severe fire” on the side of the abandoned industrial building and smoke coming from the second floor.

According to the New Haven Fire Department, it started as a two-alarm fire but soon grew to a three-alarm fire and by 10 a.m. to a four-alarm fire

According to an MLS listing, the 13,000-square-foot building is a combination warehouse, garage and office space. It is located next to StorQuest Self Storage at 140 Ferry St., the fire department reported.

According to East Haven Fire Chief Matthew Marcarelli, his department was originally assigned by the NHFD to monitor the station because it has an agreement with New Haven – on a third alarm, East Haven covers the Woodward Avenue fire station. The River Street location is near the border of East Haven and New Haven.

But en route, East Haven was called to the scene to assist with the fire attack,” Marcarelli said. “We provided a large diameter water supply hose that pumped the elevated vapors from the NHFD.”

East Haven firefighters also conducted “multiple homeless searches throughout the building,” Marcarelli said. He noted that there is “a lot of evidence that homeless people live there and that there is an after-hours club on the first floor.”

Marcarelli said, “We’re going to be here for a while.”

At approximately 8:15 a.m., the New Haven fire prompted the West Haven Fire Department's Marine 4 to pump in water from New Haven Harbor.

At 8:45 a.m., New Haven police warned motorists to avoid the area of ​​Ferry and River streets as firefighters were still on scene.

Marcarelli was still on scene and told Patch that crews would be “cleaning up most of the day” and that they really couldn't get in due to the roof collapse. The fire chief added that “parts of the building had fire walls and were potentially salvageable.”

Check back for updates.