BELLEVILLE –
Three township residents were displaced and one was injured by a fire that heavily damaged a King St. dwelling on Sunday, Jan. 25, according to the Belleville Fire Department.
Battalion Fire Chief Martin Lutz said township fire personnel responded to an alarm of fire at a two-story brick residence at 27 King St. at about 10 a.m.
Lutz said the first units to arrive spotted heavy smoke coming from the second floor.
“When they tried going up the stairwell, they were pushed back by the heavy volume of fire,” Lutz said.
Belleville Fire Dept. photos
A look at a fire that heavily damaged a King St. dwelling on Sunday, Jan. 25, in Belleville.
A look at a fire that heavily damaged a King St. dwelling on Sunday, Jan. 25, in Belleville.
Windows on the King St. and Cross Place sides of the building burst as a result of the interior build-up of heat inside, allowing fire and smoke to vent, he said.
With flames extending from the second floor through the cockloft to the roof, firefighters trained streams of water from an aerial truck and three pumpers on to the building, he said.
Lutz said the tenant on the second floor – where the fire originated – managed to get out on his own power but received second- and third-degree burns to his hands and was transported to St. Barnabas Hospital’s Burn Unit, where he was treated and released later that day.
The other tenants – two men – who occupied first-floor and basement apartments weren’t home at the time of the fire, according to Lutz.
“The entire second floor was burned out and the first floor and basement received heavy water damage, rendering the building uninhabitable,” Lutz said.
About 25 firefighters from Belleville, Nutley, Bloomfield and North Arlington brought the two-alarm blaze under control within about an hour and a half, he said.
No injuries to firefighters were reported.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, he said.
– Ron Leir
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