The piece of metal that crashed through the roof of a Jersey City business did not come from an airplane, but from an industrial mulch machine nearby, Mayor Michael Bloomberg told NBC New York. 

The metal scrap fell through the roof of the Al Smith Moving Company around 10 a.m. At that time, no one knew what it was or where it came from.   

Bloomberg said the hunk of metal flew off a mulching machine at Reliable Woods Company and was thrown about 1,000 feet in the air before hitting the moving company. He said the scrap missed hitting an individual at the company by seven or eight feet.

Owner Al Smith says he was fork-lifting a sofa onto a wooden storage platform around 10 a.m. when he heard a sound he thought was a bomb.

A piece of warm metal the size of a brick came crashing through the roof just steps from where he was standing. It splintered a wooden beam and crashed into a shelf.

Smith was shaken up by the incident. He plans buy a lottery ticket, saying it's his lucky day.

Bloomberg said the piece of metal was about six inches long, four inches wide and two inches thick of solid steel. He said the roughly eight-pound scrap was too hot to handle for about 20 minutes.

The Federal Aviation Administration initially investigated whether the piece of hot metal that fell through the roof of came from an airplane. FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac says investigators examined the metal and determined it is made of cast iron, which is not used in airplanes.