By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
LOWER MANHATTAN — A fire in a massage parlor shut down the intersection of Fulton and Gold streets Tuesday afternoon, the FDNY and witnesses said.
Firefighters were still working to put out the all-hands fire at 88 Fulton St. about 4 p.m., nearly an hour after the initial 911 call came in, an FDNY spokesman said. There were no injuries reported.
Witnesses said the fire started in Spa 88, which is on the ground floor of the building, but the FDNY said it started in Rafael’s Cleaners on the second floor.
Adriane Murphy, a massage therapist at Spa 88, also known as Wall Street Bath & Spa, said a worker who was making repairs in one of the massage rooms accidentally cut the wrong wire this afternoon.
"The next thing you know: smoke," Murphy said.
She said everyone had safely evacuated the spa.
Vernie Salcedo, who was working in Rafael’s Cleaners above the spa, said he saw flames shooting up through the floor at the back of his store.
He raced out to the street but was worried about the clothes he left behind.
"We’ll be in big trouble with the customers," Salcedo said as he watched firefighters drag a hose into the shop.
Residents who live above the shops were not evacuated as of 4 p.m., but some left the building anyway, concerned about the smoke they saw billowing up through their interior courtyard.
"When I looked outside my window, it was completely white," said a 33-year-old woman who lives in the building, who declined to give her name.
The fire was under control at 4:39 p.m., FDNY said.
The apartments have a 33 Gold St. address and an entrance around the corner from the Fulton Street retail.
