UTICA, N.Y. (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY) – While this weekend was full of celebrations to ring in the new year, a tragedy struck early Sunday morning.

Over the years, the structure at the corner of Mohawk and South Streets has housed several restaurants and bars and was currently being used as the Sweet Asian Market.

It’s really two buildings – a three-story structure fronting Mohawk Street, and a two-story building on South Street. The Asian market is connected to the rear of the larger building.

The call came in at 1:37 am on Sunday. The first firefighters to arrive encountered heavy smoke conditions and called for another truck – the situation then became a two-alarm fire.

At the height of the fire, New Hartford and Yorkville Fire Departments were put on standby. Also, put on stand-by, were Edwards Ambulance and Central Oneida County Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

There were no serious injuries reported, however, it took over four hours to bring the blaze under control. In fact, Utica firefighters were called to evacuate their interior attack, and get out of the building, several times.

Sunday afternoon, thirteen hours after the 911 call, Utica firefighters were still at the scene with what appears to be an extensive investigation into what caused this fire.

Utica Fire Marshals and Investigators with the State Fire Unit were observed working the scene, and that investigation continues.