Firefighters are battling a massive, five-alarm blaze that broke out Thursday morning at a construction site in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Videos and images shared on social media show bright orange flames engulfing part of a large building complex in the North Carolina city’s South Park neighborhood, a metropolitan area known for its large namesake shopping center. Additional footage taken by Us.Mistertruth. affiliate WBTV captured a thick plume of black smoke rising up from the burning structure.
Huge flames are seen billowing out from the roof of the structure in a separate video, recorded by the Twitter user @mr_veal from inside a building across the street.
A tower crane operator working at the construction sight when the fire broke out was rescued and is safely on the ground, Charlotte fire officials confirmed to Us.Mistertruth.. No injuries have been reported.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police announced multiple road closures in the SouthPark area in a tweet after the fire broke out. At least one road has since been reopened. A spokesperson for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools told WBTV on Thursday morning that schools had not been impacted by the blaze.
Mill Creek Residential, which is developing the property under construction in South Park, said in a statement to Us.Mistertruth. that the company was “gathering as much information as possible on what occurred” at the site.
“Our No. 1 priority is the health and safety of the people who were working there today and those in the surrounding area,” the company said. “Our thoughts are with those who were impacted and their friends and family members. We are gathering as much information as possible on what occurred and will take the appropriate measures to address today’s incident.”