Four million boxes of documents went up in smoke on Saturday morning when the Williamsburg warehouse near the East River burned. It took firefighters more than eight hours to control the blaze.

Among the records that burned were those of the public hospitals in New York City, courts of New York state and the Administration for Children's Services, reports the New York Daily News.

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The seven-alarm fire lasted until Saturday afternoon, which initially started at 4:30 a.m. at the shelving unit of the CitiStorage facility on N. 11^th Street. The fire extinguishers almost doused the blaze, but the firefighters were called back by 6:25 a.m. with the fire already consuming the warehouse.

The size of the fire was evident in smoke plumes visible throughout New York City and farther.

CitiStorage, as the sole supplier of records management services for NYC's public hospitals, stores about four million boxes of records at the just-burned warehouse and in Jersey City.

Only older medical records were kept in the warehouse, according to a Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) spokesman.

"As an early adopter of electronic medical records systems, HHC keeps duplicates of vital patient records in electronic form and we do not anticipate this will affect our operations," HHC spokesman Ian Michaels said in a statement.

The firefighters used both tower ladders and boats to douse the raging fire, while heavy winds and cool temperatures made putting out the fire harder.

Star Energy, a nearby establishment oil refinery, was evacuated as a precautionary measure.

After 24 hours since the fire began, the thick smoke could still be seen by city residents. The NYC Health Department advised those who live near the warehouse to stay indoors and shutter their windows, CBS reports.

TagsBrooklyn, Williamsburg warehouse fire