Photographer Claire Houston sent this report and a photo from her Blackberry to me last night.

I was on my way to Rapunzel Rapunzel for a haircut, and walked right through the maddness of this fire scene.

There were at least 10 fire trucks and other vehicles there.  In the salon, i asked what had happened, and there seemed to be two conflicting stories: either some kids came by asking for money and doused the shop with gasoline and lit it and ran when they didn’t get any, OR some kids threw an explosive (as in a bomb) in the botanica shop and ran. 

My hairdresser said that a guy came by and said he saw three teenagers run down the street and they seemed to throw something and there was an explosion, but the shop owner apparently told the police a different story. 

One of the tenants in the building was a client of the hair salon, and she dropped off her cat in a carrier in the shop while she went back to her apartment to grab some things. 

She came back later and picked up her kitty and was staying at her aunt’s house in Sheepshead Bay. She also said her apartment wasn’t damaged, but her neighbor’s was because the FDNY had to break a hole in her wall, and break a window.

She can go back to her apartment tomorrow.