A quick-moving, four-alarm fire has gutted three homes in Jersey City.
The fire started inside a vacant home on McAdoo Avenue at around 9 p.m., according to firefighters and witnesses. It quickly spread to two nearby homes, sending flames shooting through the roof and thick black smoke billowing high into the air.
Neighbors said the flames jumped from one house to another in minutes.
The blaze was knocked out by 10 p.m., according to the Jersey City Fire Department, but firefighters were still on the scene late Thursday night pouring water onto hot spots.
Residents could be seen consoling one another as they returned to find their homes destroyed. One woman told NBC 4 New York she had just moved two days ago into the home next to where the fire started, and she's lost everything.
Neighbors suspect squatters in the vacant home may have played a role in the fire. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
No injuries have been reported.
