Operations & Training

FFs Put Out Fire that Sweeps Through NJ Apartment Buildings

May 7, 2021

Some residents were briefly trapped in a yard during the fast-moving, three-alarm fire, and Paterson firefighters needed to cut through a fence to free them.

By Anthony G. Attrino

Source nj.com

Paterson, NJ, firefighters battled a three-alarm fire that quickly spread through three apartment buildings early Friday.

An early morning fire in Paterson damaged three apartment buildings, leaving 17 people in need of shelter and some of the evacuees temporarily trapped in a yard behind the fire, authorities said.

The three-alarm fire began about 3 a.m. Friday inside a building in the 100 block of Lafayette Street, according to Paterson Police Director Jerry Speziale.

Speziale said the fast-moving blaze damaged the apartment buildings on either side, and police and firefighters evacuated all three structures.

Police officers and some of the evacuees, including one with physical disabilities, were trapped in a yard between a fence and “very heavy fire conditions,” Speziale said. They were freed after firefighters cut open the fence.

“An aggressive interior attack was initiated to hold the fire to the three initial buildings involved in the fire,” Speziale said. “All three buildings sustained severe damage, displacing 17 residents.”

There were no injuries to firefighters or residents, according to Paterson Fire Chief Brian McDermott.

Investigators with city agencies and the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office are trying to determine the origin and cause of the blaze, officials said.

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