New York (CNN) A devastating fire Thursday night destroyed up to 85,000 artifacts at New York's Museum of Chinese in America, a repository of significant cultural materials documenting Chinese life in America.

"It was like how I felt when someone passed away," museum president Nancy Yao Maasbach said of her first thoughts upon hearing of the fire at the museum in Chinatown.

Maasbach, who has served as the museum's president for the past five years, said it's "painful" that people lost items they thought the museum would house safely.

At least 200 New York City firefighters battled the raging blaze at the building in the city's Chinatown area Thursday night.

"People understand the devastation because of the rarity of the archives," she said.

The fire began on the building's fourth floor and spread to the fifth floor and the roof, according to the Fire Department of New York. At the height of the fire, the department had 200 firefighters and EMS personnel on scene.

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