Sharpton ballroom at headquarters destroyed in fire

Jet, Feb 10, 2003

The Rev. Al Sharpton speaks to reporters in front of his National Action Network (NAN) headquarters in New York as former Bronx Democratic Party chairman Reberto Ramirez listens. The fire spread through the Harlem headquarters on the second floor of the three-story building, gutting a reception hall, one day after Sharpton formally filed papers seeking the Democratic party's nomination for the 2004 presidential race.

Fire investigators were focusing on an extension cord as the cause of the morning blaze, said fire officials. Sharpton did not speculate on the cause of the blaze or say when or where the NAN would rebuild. He said that the fire would "in no way abate in any shape or form" his run for president.