A 77-year-old man was rescued from a fire on Prospect Avenue in Bayonne after a civilian told the firefighters someone might be trapped in the building.
Fire Chief Greg Rogers said firefighters performed a quick rescue and found the man unconscious on the second floor of the burning building.
“The first arriving units were confronted with flames blowing out the windows on the second floor,” Rogers said. “A neighbor ran up to a fireman and started shouted that a 77-year-old man was up there.”
Firefighters from a rescue company and engine company forced their way into the apartment in the face of heavy smoke and high heat. They found the elderly male on the floor near the door.
“He was barely breathing,” Rogers said.
The man was transported to Bayonne Medical Center, and then sent to St. Barnabus Burn Center in Livingston.
A firefighter was also injured in the blaze and suffered a “silver dollar sized” second-degree burn. He was released after being treated at St. Barnabas.