On Thursday afternoon, crowds of New Yorkers gathered to see a sizable fire blazing in SoHo that had forced widespread road closures and sent a column of black smoke billowing over the city’s skyline during rush hour.
As early as 4:30 p.m., according to authorities, a fire broke out on the roof of a structure at Wooster and Prince streets. Firefighters stayed on the scene all afternoon as they worked to douse the flames.
When the blaze raged for almost an hour, authorities seemed to have put it out after residents saw that the smoke that had been visible flowing from the blazing building’s roof had stopped.
At the height of the afternoon rush hour, the fire forced a number of road closures in the lower Manhattan area, with all eastbound Spring Street traffic between W Broadway and Broadway being closed down shortly before 5 o’clock.
Despite this, people flocked to the location of the fire during the commotion, as shown on video, with many trying to see the flames over the fire department’s barrier to the closed-off Wooster Street.
A fire broke out on the roof of a building near Wooster and Prince streets Thursday afternoon
The fire, which started about 4:30 p.m., according to authorities, resulted in many road closures and billowed a column of black smoke over the city’s skyline during rush hour.