Despite a dramatic rescue that resulted in minor injuries to several police and fire officials and the saving of a woman and her two young children from what appeared to be certain death, the body of an unidentified man was found in the rubble after a fire gutted two homes on West. 11th Street.
During an investigation of the cause of the fire, officials discovered the body of a man, who was reported as a guest in the house, although fire officials determined that the attic portion of the house was an illegal apartment, lacking the required fire escape or other exit in case of a fire.
A woman and two children might have also died. But they were plucked from the third floor windows by fire and police before the fire could reach them.
The fire apparently started at 134 W. 11th St. at about 4:20 p.m. on Sunday, July 22 and quickly spread to the house next door. It also damaged the house on the other side.
Fire Director Patrick Boyle said units were dispatched as a result of an alarm raised by the communication office and arrived at the site to find the two-and-a-half-story wood structure already in flames, with fire spreading to the neighboring house at 136 W. 11th St.
“When the units arrived, they found heavy fire in the first, second, and third floor rear at 134 and a woman and two children leaning out the third-floor window in the front,” Boyle said.
Fire Captain Jack Dunne and Firefighter Michael Daley, both off-duty at the time, arrived at the site first. They were apparently about a block away when the fire alarm sounded. Assisted by Firefighter John Devlin as well as several police officers, including Deputy Police Chief Ralph Scianni, the firefighters attempted to enter the house to make the rescue.
“They were there before the apparatus arrived,” Boyle said. “When the units arrived, they took a ladder off the rig while the company ran the hose.”
Scianni said police officers and firefighters arrived just in time to avoid a human tragedy.
Off-duty at the time of the report, Scianni was two blocks away when the 911 calls came in.
Scianni said he found intense smoky conditions when he and two off-duty firefighters arrived at the scene.
“The report said that three people were trapped in the building,” he said. “We tried to get in through the front door and then the side door, but the flames were so intense they drove us back.”
Then, a combination of firefighters and police officers found a way to reach the stranded people.
“When a ladder truck arrived, we grabbed a ladder off it and put it against the upstairs window,” Scianni said.
Dunne, Daley and Scianni climbed the ladder to reach the third floor window where the woman and her two children were stranded, while others assisted from below and helped receive the victims as they were brought down.
“By that time, the house was totally engulfed in flames,” Scianni said. “We formed a human chain to bring the people out.”
Rescued kids from upper floor
Scianni said the woman looked scared and desperate, but was still cognitive enough to follow Dunne’s directions.
“If we had come a minute or two later, I don’t know what she would have done,” Scianni said. “It would have been disastrous. She handed her one-year-old to Dunne, and he handed the child down. When I got the child, I ran the child over to the EMS people. Then I went back up and we did the same thing with the three-year-old. Then we guided the mother down.”
While Boyle could not say if the mother and children would have perished in the fire, he did say the actions of the rescuers “at a minimum saved them from serious injury.”
“The fire eventually spread through the attic,” Boyle said. “Under the circumstance, with the amount of fire already spreading to the second [floor], they [the rescuers] made a tremendous effort.”
Captain Dunne, who was at the top of the ladder, suffered burns on his back and neck. Daily, who was behind him, suffered burns on his hands, Boyle said.
“Both were transported to The Burn Center at Saint Barnabas [in Livingston, N.J.] by EMS,” Boyle said. “They were later treated and released.”
The mother and her children were transported to Jersey City Medical Center by EMS and were also later released.
Police Officer Ben Zacrzewski was treated at Bayonne Medical Center for smoke inhalation.
Scianni said the smoke condition was one of the worst he had seen.
“It was very intense,” he said. “Our main priority was to rescue the three people from inside. A minute or two later, and the situation would have been very different. We came together as a team, and we were very fortunate. I saw the panic in the mother’s eyes. But she was still able to listen as Captain Dunne gave her instructions, and she followed those instructions to the letter. Under pressure, we functioned like a machine, the police and fire department together.”
The fire was extinguished by 6 p.m.
Mayor Joseph Doria was on the scene along with Police Chief Robert Kubert.
The Police Department posted a patrol car at the site until the property owners could secure the houses and the scene can be fully investigated.
Boyle said the cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
Apartment allegedly illegal
Mike Furer, director of the city building code office, said the property has run into legal programs in the past. It was recently fined for an illegal deck.
Mayor Joseph Doria had an even stronger statement about the property.
“Without a fire escape to save them, a woman and two children were trapped in an illegal attic apartment as a fire spread throughout a private home at 136 W. 11th St.,” Doria said. “Two off-duty firemen made a heroic ladder rescue, with the aid of the police, saving all three people.
“I highly commend the timely rescue of the firefighters and the police. Were it not for their swift action, the woman and two children probably would have lost their lives.”
Doria went on to say that illegal apartments, especially in attics and basements, are highly dangerous because they usually lack proper safety devices such as smoke alarms and fire escapes.
“There was no fire escape installed to the attic by the homeowner,” Doria said. “Luckily for these three people, the firemen and police were somehow informed of their location, and were able to get them out in time.”
Alternative living arrangements
Although the city has provisions through the Red Cross and the Helping Hands Programs, the residents of the two houses apparently have already found other places to live.
“Once I heard about the situation, I reached out to find if they needed help,” said Eleanor Tiefenwerth, executive director of the Bayonne Economic Opportunity Foundation, which oversees the Helping Hands program. “I was told that they already made arrangements.”
Boyle said the buildings suffered significant fire damage and that it is unlikely anyone will be able to return to them.
Other police and fire officers involved in the rescue efforts included Pat Lynch, Paul Newman, and Kyle Davis.