"There was smoke everywhere. It filled up so fast it made your eyes burn," said Lure Fishbar manager Tom Forrest. "There's water everywhere." "The fire started at the first floor. It spread. There was [an] . . . area where you had ventilation ducts. It got into that area and spread through the upper floors," said Deputy Assistant Chief Ronald Spadafora.

"It looks horrible inside. It looks like a war zone. It's a complete mess," Brown told the Daily News.

"The first 'Brown' lipstick is saved," Ms. Brown said with relief, referring to her only sample of the first piece of cosmetic she created in 1991, when she began the makeup line.

Workers carried large paintings from the building yesterday although it's unclear if they were from the Guggenheim's remaining offices or Brant's collection of pieces by Warhol, Jeff Koons and Julian Schnabel.

Early yesterday, Ingrid Sischy, editor in chief at Interview, wondered whether the magazine's computers could be salvaged. On Friday, staff members edited half of an upcoming issue, she said, and they hoped to finish the work on Monday. "At least nobody got seriously hurt," Ms. Sischy said. "That's the best you can hope for."