Secaucus police officers caught a child dropped from a second-floor window and town firefighters rescued other residents from an apartment building that caught fire Wednesday night.
A 56-year-old woman, who was found unresponsive on the floor in the first-floor apartment where the fire started, is in critical condition at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston with second and third degree burns, Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Miller said.
Police Officer Nicholas Spangenberg was the first to respond to Building C at 2 Radio Ave. at approximately 7:30 p.m. and he was met with heavy smoke when he entered the common hallway.
He forced entry into the first-floor apartment, and he, along with Police Officer Jason Mitchell and Detective Aniello Schaffer, carried the 56-year-old woman to safety.
Fire Chief Carl Leppin said that when police and firefighters arrived, there were numerous people leaning out their windows because they were blocked from evacuating by the heavy smoke.
Detective Matthew Ford and Police Officers Stephen Hurtuk and Matthew Garzone arrived at the fire scene and were alerted that a second-floor resident could evacuate because her apartment was full of smoke. The resident dropped her 4-year-old son out the window to police officers, who caught the boy and took him to safety.
The Secaucus Fire Department safely evacuated the child’s mother and numerous other residents from the smoke-filled building. At this time, the fire is not deemed suspicious, but remains under investigation by the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Regional Office Arson Task Force, the Secaucus Police Detective Division and the Secaucus Bureau of Fire Prevention, Miller said.
“At a time when some of the public sentiment surrounding police officers is negative, I think it is important to highlight the heroic actions of these officers,” Miller said. “Every day, our officers put their own lives and safety on the line to help and save others while serving this community. We are grateful for their heroism yesterday and every day and I couldn’t be prouder.”
Leppin said the three-alarm fire was contained mostly to the apartment where it started. Secaucus firefighters received mutual aid from Lyndhurst, Jersey City, North Arlington, Kearny, East Rutherford and Rutherford.
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