NEW YORK -- A fire in a basement interview room of Yankee Stadium early today filled corridors with black smoke and forced the evacuation of 100 reporters and ballpark personnel.
The blaze occurred after the end of the second game of the World Series, won by the Yankees 3-0 over the Los Angeles Dodgers. None of the ballplayers or the more than 56,000 spectators was in the stadium at the time of the blaze.
There were no injuries in the fire, which started in a storage locker area of the room.
The cause of the blaze was not immediately determined, a fire department spokesman said.
The blaze was brought under control at 2:16 a.m., about an hour after it began. Damage to the room was light.
The spokesman said that because the blaze occurred in the basement, under heavy concrete and steel construction, firefighters were having difficulty communicating with commanders on the surface.
Stadium personnel tried unsuccessfully to douse the blaze with portable fire extinguishers, and the smoke and heat grew in intensity.
The Fire Department said 27 firefighters, three engines, two trucks and a batallion chief responded to the blaze at the 57,545-seat stadium.
'It was going pretty good for a while,' one firefighter said.
The spokesman said firefighters responded to a manual callbox and entered the ballpark through its 157th Street gate.
The fire occurred near a room that was used to interview the managers and players of the Yankees and Dodgers after the game.
A reporter at the scene described the blaze as 'tremendous' and said the smoke had filled the basement corridors and various rooms.
About 100 reporters were less than 100 yards away in a hospitality room when the blaze occurred.
They were preparing to leave the stadium to catch a charter flight to Los Angeles, where the Series resumes Friday.
The basement is on the same level as the Yankee and Dodger clubhouses.
