By Alexander MacInnes
Herald News (Passaic County, N.J.)
Copyright 2006 North Jersey Media Group Inc.
All Rights Reserved
A three-alarm fire forced a woman to jump from a second-floor apartment, after dangling her baby and dropping it safely into the arms of a waiting Paterson police officer below.
The fire started around 9:30 a.m. in a first-floor bedroom at 137 Butler St., according to the apartment’s resident, but it quickly jumped the small alley to 139 Butler St., destroying both houses. About 20 people were displaced, 16 from three apartments at 137 Butler St. and four people from 139 Butler St., according to Paterson Deputy Chief John Duffy.
Police and fire officials did not identify the woman who jumped from the roof of the front porch, just outside the second-floor windows, or the baby that was dropped. The mother was transported to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center, according to Duffy, though the extent of her injuries remained unclear,
Police could give no information about the baby.
“She hung the baby and the police caught the baby,” said Omayra Rodriguez, a River Street resident who witnessed the rescue.
“She (the woman) was in a state of shock,” Rodriguez added. “I mean she lost everything. I mean she has nothing.”
The female police officer confirmed that she caught the baby but declined to give her name or talk about the incident. Police officers did not release her name. Her nameplate read F. Ackerman.
Neighbors said the woman jumped from the burning building onto the roof of a black Jeep that was parked in the driveway.
Kate Colon, who lived on the first floor of 137 Butler St., said she had just started cooking breakfast for her four kids when she saw smoke in the front of the apartment. When she went to investigate, she said, she saw fire coming out of the wall.
“I just think of my kids in that moment,” Colon said. “I didn’t have time for nothing else.”
Colon said she called 911 immediately and then herded her children, who were between the ages of 2 and 7, out the door.
Duffy, the incident commander at the scene, said about 50 firefighters battled the fire for about an hour and prevented the flames from spreading further down the block of tightly spaced houses. During the brief time the fire burned, it destroyed two houses and caused external damage to a third.
“It went right through the building faster than fast,” said Duffy, adding that during the warm temperatures, residents leave their windows open, which allows fires to spread more quickly.
“It was a good stop,” Duffy said. “There was a lot of effort put in to contain it to two houses.”
One firefighter was transported to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center for possible heat exhaustion, Duffy added.
The cause of the fire was still under investigation, Duffy said.