A fire broke out Friday morning in "770" in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.
The fire began in stairs leading to the locker room in the building's basement, COL reported. Fire and rescue services arrived at the site quickly, evacuating thousands of people to the courtyard.
After two hours of firefighting, firefighters succeeded in gaining control over the source of the fire and were able to limit its spread.
They then began allowing people back in to pray.
The source of the fire was discovered to be the closet for the emergency lights' battery, which is located behind a vending machine.
"We smelled something that was like the whole building burning. The firefighters went up to the roof and started trying to gain control," a witness who works in the building's upper story told COL.
No one was injured. It is not yet clear what damage was caused.