Firefighters from nine departments worked through thick smoke and construction materials to keep a fire from fully taking over a giant, new synagogue in Rockland County.

Several workers were on the scene preparing the large, majestic building for its first services.

Flooring contractor Carlos Marroquin told News 12 he was laying tiles right outside the laundry room when the fire broke out at about 11 a.m. Friday.

"It happened in the back," Marroquin said, "like blue fire coming out."

Several workers on various flooring and electrical projects were inside and on the roof.

"[It] was very dangerous," Marroquin said. "Everybody came out, and in like five minutes, the police came."

Firefighters kept the fire contained to the laundry room, put it out, and then vented out the smoke.

The smoke could not escape on its own because of the concrete walls, firefighters said.

"I pulled up and saw heavy, black smoke," Hillcrest Fire Chief Orin Ben-Jacob said, noting that construction on the synagogue can resume soon. "Firefighters, were working together with emergency services to get the roads clear and get our apparatus, and we were able to put the fire out and everybody's OK."

Chief Ben-Jacob said two firefighters were taken to the hospital after inhaling some of the smoke, and are going to be OK.

Contractors have been doing extensive electrical, cement and HVAC work there ahead of the synagogue's grand opening.

Once completed, it will be among the largest synagogues in the world.

It was too early Friday afternoon to tell whether those projects had anything to do with the fire, the chief said.