NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark — A day after smoke filled his front yard from a fire that broke out at the abandoned hospital that sits on top of Memorial hill, Steve Subin was grilling hamburgers.
"Not as much smoke that was coming off that building last night," said Subin, "I hope nobody got hurt. You couldn't even see hardly. You could see like the glow of the flames coming from the top of it, behind the trees."
Subin says he came outside Sunday night to see flames burning on top of the building.
Around 5:12 p.m. Sunday evening, North Little Rock firefighters were dispatched to the structure. There are three levels of office space and a parking garage underneath, on the side of the hill.
North Little Rock Fire says the cause of the fire is still under investigation, but that it started on the 2nd floor before spreading through the walls to the 3rd floor.
Other neighbors like Donald Hodges were worried about embers flying down from the structure on the hill to their homes.
"I was like 'Man, I smell smoke coming from somewhere," said Hodges.
Built in the 1940s, the building was abandoned in 1999 according to the group, Abandoned AR.
"My mother worked there. She was a nurse for Dr. Stephen Marks who was an OBGYN and as a little kid, she'd have to come get me after school and bring me back up to the office and Dr. Marks would let me sit in his window and look out over the city," said Jackson Pruss.
Pruss posted the video of the flames on his Facebook page, prompting other people to react.
One woman shared that the hospital was "Where I birthed two of my babies."
Dr. Rochelle Redus says she saw the smoke and flames Sunday night.
"I remember the hospital when it was there. My child was born there. I've had surgery there. It's almost like a landmark," said Redus, "I'm curious to know what's going to happen to the building."
Pruss says he made and saw so many different connections when he was younger in the hospital, it would be a shame for the structure to go to waste.
"I would like to see something happen with the property."