A raging fire ripped through a Park Slope Associated Supermarket on Friday afternoon, closing off Fifth Avenue between 17th and 18th streets in all directions for several hours.
Firefighters were called to the fire at 12:15 pm. Three hours later, they were still battling the conflagration, which consumed most of the supermarket and was eating its way through the upper floors of the three-story corner building, according to an FDNY spokesman.
The smoke was so intense that firefighters who raced into the building were pulled out for their own protection.
No shoppers or residents who lived above the supermarket were hurt, the spokesman said. One of the 138 firefighters called in to douse the blaze suffered a minor injury.
The cause the blaze remained unclear by 3:15 pm.