The wooden scaffolding surrounding the upper floors of the new skyscraper hotel, Sherry-Netherland, began burning on the night of April 12, 1927. It's uncertain how the magnificent blaze ignited. However one fire marshal believed a salamander heater left behind by plaster workers might have been responsible. The inferno burned throughout the night around the unfinished edifice. It was clearly visible in Central Park, across Fifth Avenue from the Sherry-Netherland. Men who gathered on the courthouse steps in Long Island City believed it was a new electric sign. Minutes later, after seeing fragments and wooden timbers break away from the flames, one of them called authorities.