Herald News
PATERSON, N.J. — Dozens of people lost their homes Saturday after a wind-driven fire gutted one building and damaged two others despite efforts by firefighters to isolate the blaze.
The fire likely started on the first floor of a four-family Plum Street house, which was destroyed, before spreading to an adjacent 12-unit apartment building on Washington Avenue and a single-family home on Plum Street, Deputy Fire Chief Tom Hirz said.
Firefighters tried to limit damage to the adjacent buildings by hitting the house where the fire began with water on either side, Hirz said. But all three residential buildings were rendered uninhabitable by either fire or water damage, he said.
No one was injured, Hirz said.
“I thank God that we’re all alive,” said Lisa Isham, who moved into one of the apartments at 62 Plum St. this summer.
Isham said she lived there with her sons, 20-year-old Jamal and 11-year-old Justin. The youngest was sleeping when the fire started about 2 p.m., but Jamal woke him and led him outside to safety, she said. Isham’s daughter and two grandsons, who are 6 years and 2 weeks old, respectively, evacuated from a downstairs apartment.
Many victims, some without coats, huddled in the cold watching the fire, waiting for police officers to jot down their information in case they needed temporary shelter from the American Red Cross.
One woman stood alone and cursed at the Washington Avenue building, gesturing to an apartment window adorned with Christmas lights. The fire scorched the roof, and might have destabilized the building, but water from the sprinkler system caused the worst damage, Hirz said.
As the fire grew to three alarms, nearly every working firefighter in the city responded. Companies in Clifton and Passaic also dispatched firefighters, Hirz said.