A huge plume of dark smoke quickly blanketed the downtown area of Halifax, Wednesday afternoon, due to a fire in a high-rise building.

Halifax Professional Fire Fighters say they responded around 1:30 p.m. to the blaze on Cogswell Street that started in the basement of the building.

Ashley Wong was eating lunch at a restaurant on the Dartmouth waterfront. She tells our newsroom all of a sudden, she noticed the smoke rise out of the buildings along the Halifax Harbour.

“It just kept going and going until the whole harbor was engulfed in smoke,” says Wong.

She was immediately worried.

“I could hear the sirens were immediate, I went outside to film, get some shots of it and there were a lot of concerned people around me calling their loved ones to make sure people were okay,” adds Wong.

She says only about 15 minutes later the smoke started to dissipate.

The fire union says due to conditions and the “complexity” of the incident, it is now a second alarm blaze.

It is unclear at this time what started the fire, the extent of damage or if there are any injuries.

You are asked to avoid the area.