Fire crews have extinguished a massive fire that destroyed the old General Industries building Thursday.

Police are still asking residents to avoid any roads intersecting with Taylor, Clark and Winckles streets near the building’s fire-charred remains.

Hundreds of spectators have lined the blockaded emergency area where firefighters fought the warehouse blaze since about 1:40 a.m. until nearly 6 p.m. today.

Onlookers still stood about 6 p.m. on Fairlawn Avenue in front of Sidelines Sports Grill, when police radioed for extra help with crowd control as Ohio Edison workers went about repairing power lines near the fire site.

About 6:30 p.m., they started moving barricades south and the bystanders began quickly melting away. The officers, who had been on the scene since about 2 a.m., looked tired and their faces were covered with stubble.

They said they wouldn’t be able to go home after the area around General Industries was cleared because they would have to report to West Park to work the city’s Independence Day fireworks detail.

Carol Strickland, owner of Sidelines, said business was booming all day because her bar is so close to the fire. She said she started getting calls mid-morning asking if the bar would stay open.

It did – with no fire, smoke or water damage – but Strickland said most of her parking space was taken up by the fire engines staging across the street from Sidelines.

Her smaller parking lot, located right next to the bar, was filled most of the day by curious people trying to get a glimpse of the action, she said. Fairlawn Avenue was still lined by cars mid-evening Thursday all the way south to Broad Street.

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