When fire crews arrived on the scene early Thursday morning, the flames coming from the abandoned Charlestown Mall site could be seen for miles.
However, daylight revealing the fallout of the blaze and the effect it had across the area.
The scent of smoke lingering as far Marcy and Westmoreland sparking concerns among residents and officials with air quality.
People have reported smelling it from as far away as westmoreland and marcy.
Newschannel two's brent kearney is live at the scene where firefighters are still keeping an eye on the structure...as it is expected to be burning for the next couple of days.
Brent, you were there early this morning as well.... the water authority is now estimating around 2 and a half million gallons of water was used to combat this fire.
Now concern moves away from the structure and towards how blaze affected the air quality of the area.
James says: smells horrible, like everything is burning " as fire fighters continued to battle the fire, the fallout of the blaze lingered across the area.
The smoke could be smelled as far as marcy and westmoreland.
Ion says: .
None .
None 3:24:12 being outside is terrible.
Brent: you can smell it.
Man: you can definitely smell it.
I was at marlogg having breakfast and i couldnt smell it there.
When i got out of the car here, you could smell it oretty bad hgere 3:24:23 east utica was originally first responders main concern in terms of air quality.
But that quickly changed as weather moved in.
Scott says: it's not going to just be east utica im concerned about.
Im concerned about the entire area.
We had smoke shift from easterly wind pushing the smoke west and now we're getting more westward winds.
There's definitely a shift in the smoke coverahe 3:30:30 many were worried about potential harmful chemicals contributing for the haze, but the city says they were removed.
Robert says: "dec sent us a letter stating all of the contaminants are out of the building.
So the air quality is basically the soot from the facility."
Now the city is urging residents to stay inside.
I encourage people to stay inside, keep your windows closed, keep your air conditioners off right now 3:30:38> the city says that order is until further notice.
And they're asking those residents to take it seriously.
This is some amazing drone video of the fire sent in to
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Firefighters from multiple departments were on the scene overnight and throughout the morning battling a massive fire at the former..
