PASSAIC – A pair of firefighters bounded into a burning Passaic Street house Wednesday evening and rescued two people from a three-alarm blaze.
It appeared that the fire at 150 Passaic St. began in a second-floor unit, above a business called Rapid Multiservices, according to fire officials.
A woman living in the building tried to extinguish the flames herself, but when she couldn't, she called authorities. When fire companies arrived shortly after 6:30 p.m., they found residents fleeing the building.
"They were just coming out, wheelchairs were bouncing down the stairs," said Lt. Bruce Rusconi.
With the help of another firefighter, Lt. John Brutosky, Rusconi ran into the building before fire hoses could be rolled out.
The two ran to the top floor. When they kicked down the door of one apartment, they found a woman slumped over and unconscious. The pair carried her down the stairs.
As others began to fight the fire, Brutosky and Rusconi rushed back in. They found a disoriented elderly man lying in bed. They picked him up and pulled him from the building before the fire consumed the stairwell.
The man and the woman were taken to an area hospital for treatment. Their conditions were not available Wednesday night.
The building had six apartments in its upper floors, but firefighters found other units inside some of the apartments, leading them to believe it may be a rooming house. They were unsure of how many residents lived in the building.
As additional alarms rang, firefighters from at least seven neighboring towns arrived to help rein in the fire.
The entire third floor of the building was gutted and flames spread to the neighboring building at 152 Passaic St. The second floor of that building, over the top of De Nosotros Empanadas restaurant, caught fire before authorities could knock it down. Firefighters brought the blaze under control at about 8:30 p.m.
No cause had been determined for the fire Wednesday night.
Lt. Ramze Ramadan had helped to hold back the fire when the others rushed in to rescue the upstairs occupants.
"Thank god no one (else) got hurt. It was a struggle, but we did it," he said.
Republished with permission from North Jersey.com
