A raging 3-alarm fire is responsible for injuring four firefighters and displacing more than a dozen New Jersey families, city officials said Saturday morning.
Three residential buildings on Seymour Avenue in Newark were gutted before sunrise after the fire raced through each of the buildings in the middle of the night.
City officials said the fire started in an abandoned building just before midnight and quickly spread to the neighboring and occupied buildings on either side. By Saturday morning, officials said 34 people needed to be relocated.
The four injured firefighters were inside the abandoned building when there was a partial collapse in the rear. All four first responders were transported to nearby hospitals and were expected to survive.
Three neighbors said they have repeatedly complained about seeing squatters in the abandoned home.
"I was so scared and in panic mode. I ran outside," one mother of three said. "I seen that the whole side of the house was on fire. I lost everything."
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Firefighters were still dousing the buildings hours after the sun came up to prevent any potential hotspots from igniting.
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The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
