By Olivia Scheck and Heather Grossmann
DNAinfo Staff
MIDTOWN WEST — A minor fire broke out early Thursday afternoon on the fourth floor of a Midtown theater, the FDNY said.
The Fire Department was called to the St. James Theatre at 246 W. 44th St. at 12:58 p.m. The FDNY evacuated the building and nobody was injured, the department confirmed.
An initial report of the incident indicated that an elevator shaft in the building caught fire while someone was trapped inside.
But when the FDNY arrived, there was nobody stuck in the elevator, a firefighter at the scene said, noting that the blaze did originate from the elevator shaft.
The cause of the fire is currently being investigated.
"A stagehand came in and told us to get out, that’s all that happened," a man who was inside the theater at the time of the evacuation said.
Over a half-dozen fire trucks and police vehicles crowded the street, and a crowd of onlookers watched as firefighters ran ladders up to the roof.
