BOSTON --
Boston firefighters battled a four-alarm fire at a hotel that was under construction in the Back Bay Monday morning.
NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that the fire broke out around 8 a.m. Monday in the Mandarin Oriental hotel and condominium complex that is under construction on Boylston Street near the Prudential Center. Dozens of construction workers were evacuated when the fire broke out.
"I started smelling smoke. The smoke was coming up from the fourth floor to the 11th floor through the hallways," construction worker Leslie Mackinnon said.
Flames could be seen shooting out of the out of the broken windows of the fourth floor of the 14-story building. The fire started in the fitness room where mill workers were making cabinets.
"A couple of guys grabbed buckets of water and then someone had a fire extinguisher. They tried with fire extinguishers and then the smoke and fire was pushing everyone back. At that point it was just telling everyone to get out of the building," one worker said.
"We heard a scream through the elevators, and we all started yelling to get out of the building and ran down and got out," Mackinnon said.
The complex was slated to open this summer. Suffolk Construction, the company in charge of the project, said cleanup started on Monday afternoon, and construction would resume on Tuesday.
"There is absolutely no damage to the condominium units, to the typical hotel rooms, and to the apartments," Suffolk spokeswoman Kim Steimle said in a statement.
Suffolk estimated it would take about a week to fully assess the fire damage. The window damage alone is estimated at $30,000.
No one was seriously hurt in the blaze, although a firefighter was hospitalized with minor injuries.
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