Weehawken man hospitalized after early morning fire

WEEHAWKEN – A elderly man was rescued and hospitalized Tuesday morning after a pre-dawn fire damaged a wood-frame two-family house in Weehawken.
The fire started at the rear of the house on Oak Street and also damaged the neighboring house, according to NJ.com. Four families were displaced by the blaze, a total of 11 people.
The Red Cross responded and has relocated the displaced occupants of both houses.
The unidentified man was conscious as he was taken from the burning, smoke-filled house by firefighters of North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue. A woman living on the first floor of the house, believed to be the elderly man’s wife, escaped the house unassisted, along with a family living in the upstairs apartment, according to Chief Frank Montagne.
Occupants of the house across a narrow alley next door were evacuated and the exterior of that house was damaged.
The fire, which started at the rear of the first floor of the house in a kitchen or bedroom, is under investigation, Montagne said.
Firefighters responding to a 5:27 a.m. alarm were confronted by heavy smoke which made visibility nearly impossible in the pre-dawn darkness, Montagne said.
About 50 firefighters, nine engines, other emergency vehicles and Weehawken Police responded to the 3-alarm blaze, which was brought under control shortly after 7 a.m.
The back of the house where the fire started was completely blackened, and Montagne said it would be some time before the house could be re-occupied, if ever.