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(Cliffside Park-WABC, February 17, 2004) -- A massive fire is burning through an apartment building in Cliffside Park, New Jersey. Officials believe the fire started in a laundromat on the ground floor of one of the buildings.
Firefighters are slowly making progress on this fire. This is a tough blaze. The smoke pouring out of this building is a mix white and dark clouds. One of the firefighters say that if the smoke is white and that the water being dumped on that area is somewhat under control. However, the dark smoke means that something is burning underneath the building and that is not a good sign.
The fire started around 2:00 a.m. this morning and 150 firefighters from at least six towns are on the scene from all over Bergen County. The fire is at a building located on Palisade Avenue. At this point, officials believe the fire started in a laundromat on the ground floor of one of the buildings. Everyone in the building had to be evacuated which was about 30 people in 19 apartments.
Also, people living in ten apartments in a neighboring building were also told to get out.
Firefighters are fighting this fire with a piece of equipment called a "master stream," which is a remote control hose that firefighters can use to dump water from up above and it has been instrumental this morning.
The 30 people evacuated in this building have been evacuated to senior center in this area. There is a great deal of smoke pouring out of this building.
A view from Newscopter Seven showed that this fire has now jumped from the front portion of the building to the rear. It has been a dramatic scene as the rear of the apartment building has now gone up in flames.
The south wall of the building had begun to buckle and as a result, one of the tower ladders used by the fire department had to back off the scene for a few minutes. When they did this, that gave the fire a chance to get itself going. The fire is burning out of control and all residents have been evacuated with no injuries but this fire is still burning out of control.
