Statue of Liberty evacuated after propane tank fire

Liberty Island in New York, home of the iconic Statue of Liberty, was evacuated after three 100-pound propane tanks burst into flames.

The fire began at a construction site on the island just before noon on Monday. As the blaze took hold, over 3,000 visitors queued up for boats as they were evacuated back to Manhattan.

FDNY firefighters managed to get the fire under control an hour later, and only one injury was reported. However, things could have gone much worse had one of the tanks exploded.

"With that much propane, had one of the tanks exploded – it was would have been catastrophic. Anybody near it, shrap metal would have been flying for quite some distance plus a tremendous ball of fire when a propane tank does explode like that," FDNY Commander Roger Sakowich said.

The tanks were approximately 200 feet from the statue itself.

Construction crews are working on a new museum on the island. The monument itself, gifted to the fledgling United States by France in 1886, was unharmed.

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