By Meghan Keneally and Tom Liddy
DNAinfo Reporters
MANHATTAN — A blaze erupted at the Westbeth Artists' Residences in the West Village on Sunday afternoon, according to sources and the FDNY.
The fire broke out on the fifth floor of 463 West St., near Bethune Street, at 2:45 p.m. filling the hallways with black smoke and sending residents scrambling for safety.
“I just got out of there as fast as I could,” said Mary Ridge, who also lives on the fifth floor of the building. “I didn’t get my camera, and that’s what I’m the most aggravated about! I should have that thing attached to me like a limb!”
A worker at the 12-story building said that a resident noticed the fire in his apartment when he came out of the shower.
“[My neighbor] came and got me from my apartment,” said Jennifer Cooke, who lives next door to the apartment where the fire started. “He was in the shower and when he came out there was smoke everywhere.”
Nearly 80 firefighters fought the blaze, which was placed under control at 3:32 p.m. There were no reports of injuries.
The Westbeth complex is located in 13 buildings that were formerly occupied by Bell Labs, the site of the first demonstration of a talking movie and TV broadcast, among other things.
In the 1960s, the space was reinvented as a space for 384 artists an renovated by Richard Meier, according to the building's website.