By Shayna Jacobs and Nina Mandell
DNAinfo Reporter/Producers
MUNICIPAL DISTRICT — The main Manhattan criminal court building will remain closed again on Wednesday because of damage from a two-alarm fire that injured eight people and emptied the building for most of the day Tuesday, officials said.
The 100 Centre Street courthouse may even be shut down for several days or an entire week, court sources said.
Five firefighters, two civilians and one inmate sustained minor injuries. Only one was hospitalized and taken to Bellevue for treatment, a spokesperson for the FDNY said.
One firefighter — who did not appear to be seriously injured — was carried out of the building on a stretcher.
Fire marshals were still investigating the cause of the basement fire Tuesday evening, which sources said started inside a wooden storage shack in the basement of 100 Centre Street.
Many of Wednesday's scheduled criminal court appearances will be held across the street at 111 Centre Street, said David Bookstaver, spokesperson for the New York State court system.
The alarms sounded at 10:29 a.m., and the fire was extinguished by 11:56 a.m., the FDNY said.
As court officers evacuated the building, hundreds of people filed out to surrounding streets, and inmates were all temporarily taken to the Manhattan Detention Center next door.
"I smelled smoke, but it wasn't a lot," said Paul Lewis, 25, of Harlem, who was in court facing a trespassing charge. "I guess because of all this high alert terrorism stuff, they assume it's something serious."
Krystal Cruz, 21, of Queens, had been accompanying her husband to court when they were led down the emergency exit stairwells from the fourth floor.
The staircases were filled with smoke, she said.
"It was pretty much organized, but it was a lot of people," Cruz said. "No one is going to feel comfortable going in afterward."
There were 25 units and 106 firefighters dispatched to the scene, according to the FDNY.
