Children were evacuated from a day care center as flames spread through a Bayonne building Friday morning.

The fire started in a second-floor bedroom in a three-story building on Avenue C just before noon and threatened the day care occupied by 30 children.

"They started to move the babies out, so I ran over there and I started helping them," eyewitness Marie Maita told News12.com. "It was very emotional for me. I just wanted to cry,"

Fire Chief Keith Weaver told ABC7 that 59 children, from toddlers to age 8, were removed from the building by staff, passersby and a Councilman.

The fire reached five alarms and damaged three buildings.

Crews were forced to go defensive as the fire spread.

The fire, which displaced more than a dozen people and damaged seven apartments, was contained by 1:30 p.m.