WEST NEW YORK AND BEYOND — A three-alarm fire gutted a two-family home at 74 67th St. in West New York on Wednesday, Nov. 30, Police Chief Michael Indri told the Reporter on Monday. The home belongs to Town Commissioner Ruben Vargas’s wife, Carmen.
Original reports classified the fire as suspicious, but Indri said Monday that the fire was in fact accidental and was started by a candle left burning on the first floor. It left the home “extensively destroyed,” he said.
Indri also stated Ruben Vargas informed police and fire officials that there were two rifles in the property at the time of the fire. One was registered, unloaded, and properly stored. The other rifle was “historic, and not even useable,” Indri said.
According to stories on NJ.com, Carmen Vargas allegedly owes $20,000 in safety code violation fines and Commissioner Vargas allegedly owes $10,000. However, Mayor Felix Roque could not confirm the fines. He said the Town of West New York has retained Attorney Gilberto Garcia to further investigate the allegations of the lingering fines.
Garcia said on Monday both Carmen and the commissioner acted in full cooperation with both police and fire officials at the time of the fire.
As for the alleged building code violations, Garcia said, “Both Commissioner Vargas and I can assure that an appropriate investigation will be made, and if there are in fact any outstanding violations, they will be addressed immediately.”
Garcia stated that the commissioner had no prior knowledge of the reported building code citations, and that if he had, he would have dealt with them. “I will be speaking to building officials,” he continued. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this.”