By Erik Shilling
The Herald News
PATERSON, N.J. — Five firefighters were injured and 17 residents were displaced by a two-alarm fire that badly damaged two houses on Sherman Avenue on Tuesday, a fire official said.
The firefighters, whose names were not available, were being treated at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center.
The fire at a large three-story building at 116 Sherman Ave. was reported around 2:50 p.m., said Deputy Chief Bruce Vander Voort of the Paterson Fire Department. It appeared to have started toward the rear of the structure’s top floor, he said.
A second alarm was sounded as the fire spread quickly to 118 Sherman Ave., also a three-story building, Vander Voort said.
A teenage resident, who said he had lived on the third floor at 118 Sherman for 12 years, said family members were outside when they saw smoke.
They ran to the house and yelled for the rest of the family to get out.
Natalia Montoya, 22, had just returned from nursing school and was in her apartment on the second floor of 118 Sherman when she heard the commotion.
She stood on the sidewalk next to her dogs, tears streaming down her face.
“I heard people screaming, and I looked outside and some lady was screaming, ‘Come out of the house now!’ ” Montoya said.
Montoya said she scooped up her two dogs and a pet bird and ran outside, leaving behind four birds, including a cockatiel and a canary.
Vander Voort said a firefighter rescued one of the birds.
All three floors of 116 Sherman were heavily damaged, Vander Voort said.
The second and third floors of 118 Sherman Ave. sustained damage.
The fire was still under investigation late on Tuesday.
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