BRIDGEWATER -- A three-alarm condominium blaze injured three firefighters and left a dozen families homeless Sunday.
A neighbor called 911 at about 2 p.m. to report a fire roaring above units 209 and 210, the top floor of Strafford Place's Building Two, Finderne Assistant Chief David Mangino said. The condo complex is near where Thompson Avenue meets Route 22.
"When we came here, it was blowing out the roof," said Finderne fire Lt. Dan Ally.
The fire ate through the roof, leaving the three-story structure sagging and unstable, Ally said. He said part of the roof collapsed on Finderne firefighter Dan Ruggini.
Moments later, fire trucks surrounding the condominiums blared their horns -- a signal for all firefighters in the structure to evacuate the building.
Ruggini was taken by ambulance to Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center in New Brunswick with minor injuries, Ally said.
Finderne firefighter Jennifer Kocanowski suffered minor smoke inhalation, and an unnamed Bound Brook firefighter was also hospitalized with minor injuries, Ally said.
Though the blaze's cause was under investigation Sunday evening, Mangino said it may have started in the attic above the two units.
It was large enough that fire companies and rescue squads from Finderne, Bound Brook and Somerville, and fire departments from South Bound Brook and Somerset, arrived to battle the fire, said Somerset County Fire Coordinator Doug Rue, adding that he could see the fire's smoke from Somerville as he drove toward it.
As firefighters worked, dozens of neighbors watched from the lawn as the force of the water from two ladder trucks' fire hoses shot above the roofline and sent shingles into the air.
"I think a lot of people are in shock right now," said property manager James Bennett./p>
Hugh Griffith was holding his soggy and scared cat, Calvin, whom firefighters found hiding in unit 209 after the fire was extinguished.
Griffith said he grabbed what he could -- keys, wallet and checkbook -- from his condo, which he has owned since it was built about 12 years ago. He returned to his unit a few times during the fire to try and retrieve his 14-year-old Calico, but had to leave when the blaze grew too intense.
About an hour later, firefighters found Calvin and another cat in unit 210. They swaddled the wet, sooty animals and handed them to their owners.
The tenants from unit 210 immediately took their cat to a veterinarian.
Griffith held Calvin tight to his chest like a baby and leaned against his car. He stood in the icy parking lot wearing shorts and a hooded sweatshirt looking toward his decimated home.
"I guess I'll stay in a hotel tonight. I'll have to figure it all out tomorrow," Griffith said.
In addition to fire damage in units 209 and 210, smoke and water damaged 10 other units, Mangino said.
Bridgewater police interviewed residents in the 12 units closest to the fire, police Lt. Jill Delin said. A Bridgewater senior citizens bus was sent to the complex to keep residents warm, she said.
The bus then took people to the Bridgewater senior center so displaced residents could finding housing through the American Red Cross, if needed.
Before boarding the bus, Edward and Elizabeth Navarro waited outside to determine how bad the damage was in their condominium, unit 206.
"I really thought the whole place was going to go," Edward Navarro said. "It was our worst nightmare -- for something like this to happen."
