ROTTERDAM, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Sarah Sharpe has been the General Manager at Sportime Schenectady for over four years. She says 70 people were in the building when a fire broke out Tuesday morning.

“I’m just so thankful—grateful—for our staff and for the special team that just acted so quickly, and remained calm,” noted Sharpe. “Their number one priority was to get people out of the building.”

The Chief of Carman Fire Department, Scott Sloan, said that quick thinking saved lives. “Everyone was out when I got here,” he recalled. “Now they’re around.”

The building, though, took quite the hit. “So, there was some smoke damage, some water damage from containing the fire, and the amazing effort done by the Rotterdam fire rescue and other local fire departments helped prevent further spread and further damage,” explained Sharpe.

Sharpe is planning to reopen as soon as possible. “We’re just trying to see what we can do to get this place back up and running as quickly as possible,” she stated, “and also to take care of our employees that would be affected in the short term.”

A structural engineer will be taking a look at the building on Thursday. As for Sharpe, she hopes to announce an opening date by the end of the week. Once those updates are available, they will be posted on the venue’s Facebook page, she concluded.