There was an explosion earlier today in the News Corp. building on Sixth Avenue. MyFoxNY reports that it was a chemical explosion (wha?) and that one man was burned. Over 700 people have been evacuated from the building. Gawker reports that there is smoke coming from the top of the building and that they are not letting anybody in. Also, "all the news photographers who can't get into their offices are taking photos of the people standing outside!" That's so meta. It's like citizen journalism 2.0!

Fire! [Gawker]
Explosion in Midtown Manhattan [MyFoxNY]
Update: Curbed chimes in, adding that they've learned through Instant Messenger that it was a leak of certain chemicals which may have been the cause of the explosion, and that hazmat teams have been deployed. Which really puts the whole "No Chemical Dumping" theme of their holiday party into an ironic/dangerous context.