The North Hudson Community Action Program and the Hudson County Chapter of the American Red Cross were working last week to see if they could find permanent housing for three of four families routed by blaze on the day before Thanksgiving.
A five-alarm fire, which was first deemed suspicious and investigated by the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, but later determined to be blamed on a faulty gas line, routed four North Bergen families from two homes on 72nd Street on Nov. 24.
The fire was so intense that the first two-story home was totally engulfed in flames in just two minutes.
“We received the call around 5:07 p.m. and by the time the first unit arrived two minutes later, the first building was fully involved in flames,” North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue Co-Director Michael Deorio said. “The whole house was engulfed, with flames coming out of the windows on both floors. The neighbors said that by the time they said they smelled smoke, there were already flames throughout the whole building. That was a little unusual.”
Quick-thinking neighbors helped to evacuate the building where the fire started, as well as the adjacent building. The alert neighbors were very helpful, because nine people lived in the second building, also a two-story home, which was also soon engulfed in flames.
“We tried to contain the spread of the fire, but the flames were so high that they burned overhead wires,” Deorio said. “The heavy winds also helped to accelerate the fire. But with live wires down, it was a very unsafe situation and the department had to take the defensive mode in fighting the fire, instead of the aggressive approach.”
Department Chief Edward Flood and Deputy Chief Robert Hodge were both on the scene to coordinate the fire fighting strategy. Public Service Electric & Gas was summoned to the scene and the power lines were turned off. About 10 other homes along 72nd Street were without electricity for six hours, because of the downed lines.
Several alarms were then sent out to battle the quick-moving fire.
“The fifth alarm was mainly for manpower,” Deorio said. “But it was a very tough fire to fight.”
After more than two hours, the fire was deemed under control. The Prosecutor’s Office was called to the scene, because witnesses first reported that they spotted someone dousing the front of the building with some sort of a flammable liquid.
“But we didn’t find any flame patterns that would have suggested flammables,” Deorio said. “We still haven’t made a determination how it started, but the way it went up and from where we think it started, it appears to be that possibly a gas leak started it.”
The contents of the building didn’t help matters. One of the apartments was filled with old newspapers and magazines, along with boxes of clothing and other items.
“There certainly appeared to be a lot of debris, like newspapers, because the one room had heavy fire,” Deorio said. “That certainly helped that one house to go up.”
Fortunately, no injuries were reported. One firefighter suffered a sprained wrist, but he was treated at Palisades General Hospital and released.
“It could have been much worse,” Deorio said. “Luckily, other people had concern to make sure the people in the houses got out, which they did. It was a very intense fire that moved along very quickly.”
An elderly couple was relocated to the home of a family member, but for the Cardenas family that lived at 1112 72nd St., it was not the happiest of Thanksgivings.
The Cardenas family was temporarily moved to the Hilltop Motel, but that isn’t much consolation, considering that Monica Cardenas has three children to worry about, as well as her grandmother and two aunts.
“My kids came out of the house in their bare feet,” Cardenas said. “Everything is gone.”
The Red Cross and North Hudson Community Action Corporation are trying to find the large extended family some permanent housing.
“But we still have a lot to be thankful for,” Cardenas said. “We have our health and we have our family.”
“It definitely is a hardship and a burden for a family to suffer like that, especially through the holidays,” Deorio said. “I feel for them. And I’m disappointed that the fire became so completely involved in such a short period. We don’t usually like to have the defensive attack, but this time, we had no choice.”