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An elevator motor caught fire and sent smoke throughout the city’s tallest building Friday, forcing hundreds of office workers and shoppers out of the 49-story structure for about an hour.
All had to walk down stairs. “There were some people who told us they hadn’t had that much exercise in years,” said the city’s assistant fire chief.
He said a building security guard who suffered an asthmatic reaction to the smoke was taken to a hospital. No other injuries were reported.
The fire disabled two of the 15 elevators in the building, Carew Tower, and sent smoke into elevator shafts and stairwells. Employees were allowed back into the building by midafternoon.
