A fire lit up the sky over Fifth Avenue Friday night, putting on a spectacular light show for hundreds of tourists who gathered to gawk.
No one was seriously hurt in the three-alarm blaze that started in a kitchen of the TGI Fridays, which occupies the lower floors of the six-story building at the corner of 48th Street in Midtown — but one firefighter suffered minor smoke inhalation.
It worked its way through the restaurant’s ducts to the roof, shooting flames into the sky.
Tourists thought it was the best show in town.
“There were a lot of hot firemen,’’ said Lori Gagula, of Houston. “What more could we ask for?’’
Her pal, Lisa Hutchison, said: “It was awesome. I thought we were walking up on a movie shoot.’’
Robert Herring of North Carolina, said, “I’ve never seen anything like this before.
“Where I come from we don’t have skyscrapers — or ladder trucks.’’
He was looking forward to telling some real New York stories to his friends back home.
“I especially enjoyed getting chewed out by the cops for crossing their police tape,’’ he said.
About 100 workers and customers were in the TGIF when the fire started at 8:45 p.m., according to an employee.
All of them got out safely, fire officials said.
“Some of them didn’t bother to pay their bills,’’ a busboy said.
“But we told everybody not to worry about it and just get out.’’
One person had been in an office on the one of the upper floors and managed to leave on his own.
Stephanie Champ of Jacksonville, Fla., had seen the smoke from the observation deck of the Empire State Building and walked up Fifth Avenue to see what was happening.
She missed the flames, but saw “more emergency vehicles than I’ve ever seen in my life.’’
Matthew Giles, of Australia, agreed.
“I don’t think there are this many firemen in all of Australia,’’ he said.
Additional reporting by Kenneth Garger and Matt McNulty