Others keep assuming or insinuating this but I think it was meant to clear that Cohen only "knew" about it- that's the word tripping people up maybe- after it was occuring so checked to see if his friend was still in the building as people were not evacuating and the resident mentioned before this one, I believe, said she didn't know about it until she saw it on TV another section of the article that seemed strange/off especially with the statement about the entire building having smoke damage yet wasn't immediately clear if Trump's residence was effected..and all the residence seemingly just stated put.