GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — For those on the outside, it was hard to miss the thick, black smoke billowing out of the top of the Grand Rapids Brewing Company Friday afternoon.
"It didn't it didn't smell like any smoke," said Alex Robles who lives three floors about the Grand Rapids Brewing Company. "That's when we were like, okay, so is this real or not? Is that like, what do we do?"
But for Robles and Mackenzie Wallin, who live in an apartment on the fourth floor, it was a different story. No smoke, no smell, the only thing indicating something was wrong were the fire alarms going off throughout the entire building.
"It was super shocking for us to realize like, oh my goodness, this is actually happening like we need to get out," said Wallin.
It started around 4 :00 p.m. on Friday and the Grand Rapids Fire Chief said the fire management systems in the building saved lives.
"The sprinkler system fire alarm system did their job," said Fire Chief Brad Brown. "So we that's why we had no injuries, everyone was able to safely evacuate. All at all, from what we saw when we pulled up pretty miserable to moderate damage."
Chief Brown said it started in the basement.
A representative from Barfly, the parent company of GR Brewing told us that the fire was caused by a fryer.
Grand Rapids Brewing Company posted to Facebook thanking first responders and saying they would be closed for the night.
"We put out the basement fire opened up the exterior HVAC system, heating ventilation cooling system, and then put out multiple fires on the roof," said Chief Brown.
The second and third floors of the building are offices for Advantage Benefits Group. Lily, who works on one of those floors, recounted the moments when their floor found out what was going on.
"The whole vent outside just like shook really hard and it was very loud and a few seconds after the smoke just started," said Lily. "It was super dark and also dark grey and yellow if that makes sense, it was kind of ominous."
This is a developing story. 13 On Your Side will provide more updates when they become available.