By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN WEST — A suspicious fire in Midtown evacuated a building and shut down part of West 57th Street Thursday afternoon.
Construction materials in the kitchen of a fourth-floor apartment at 333 West 57th Street mysteriously caught fire, a fire official on the scene said. The FDNY responded to the fire about 3:40 p.m. and extinguished the blaze about 4:10 p.m.
Police cars blocked traffic in both directions of West 57th Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues until just after 5 p.m.
The building, which is a mix of offices and apartments, was evacuated. There was nobody in the apartment at the time of the fire and nobody was hurt, FDNY said.
The fire department did not know how the fire had started and said the fire marshall would come to the scene to investigate the cause.
Karen Rose, who lives next door to the apartment that caught fire, said that construction was being done to join the one-bedroom apartment with another studio.
"When I came to my living room, I smelled smoke, and when I went to the hallway the whole hall was filled with smoke," said Rose, who was standing outside the eight-floor building.
"I feel very very badly for my neighbors because they’ve worked so hard with all this construction, and I feel bad for the people downstairs with all that water. Thank god nobody was hurt."