ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Crews responded to a fire at a former hotel on Jay Street in Albany Monday morning. Officials said fighting fires in vacant buildings can be extremely challenging.

“This is a very dangerous scenario for us, just having to gain access, having to remove boarded up plywood to get in there,” Albany Battalion Chief Patrick Hines said. “But obviously, given the size of this structure, if we have fire in one room, we don’t want that to turn into a building of this size on fire.”

Officials said the fire was under control after about 10 minutes. They credited bystanders for noticing smoke and calling 911. It’s unclear how it got started or if there were any injuries.