A Jersey City firefighter who had been trapped on the second floor of a burning building gets on a ladder after it was raised to the window for him at 77 Randolph Ave. in Jersey City on June 29, 2016. (Joe Shine | For The Jersey Journal)
By Michaelangelo Conte | The Jersey Journal
on June 29, 2016 at 10:13 AM, updated June 29, 2016 at 11:35 AM
JERSEY CITY, NJ -- At least nine city firefighters were injured battling a three-alarm blaze in Jersey City that has spread from one multi-family home to another this morning, officials said.
Of the nine firefighters, at least four suffered from heat exhaustion, one injured a knee injury, another injured a shoulder and a fire captain suffered burns to his neck.
Four of the firefighters will be discharged from Jersey City Medical Center by noon, while the other five are being treated and evaluated, hospital spokesman Mark Rabson said.
The fire at 77 Randolph Ave., which appears to have started on the second floor, was reported at 8:07 a.m. and immediately went to a second alarm. But 8:20, the blaze had gone to a third alarm.
The fire was declared under control at 10 a.m., Jersey City Fire Chief Darren Rivers said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
The heat from the blaze caused damage to adjacent buildings at 75 and 79 Randolph Ave. and the fire spread to the cockloft of 79 Randolph. The second and third floors of 77 Randolph Ave., a six-family building, appear completely gutted and the roof is gone.
One firefighter was trapped on the second floor and a ladder had to be raised to rescue him. That firefighter was not injured.
Rivers said all 15 residents at 77 Randolph were evacuated safely. Residents in 75 and 79 Randolph were also evacuated.
"All of a sudden the alarms went off and I got out of the building and there was a river of water from the firefighters," said Alex Buda, who identified himself superintendent of 77 Randolph. "I ran out as the building's windows were breaking. The people running out of there were scared, even the people running out of 79 (Randolph were scared)."
The five-alarm fire that tore through a Bayonne building that housed a laundromat and apartments displaced 45 people, according to the buildings owner and the Bayonne fire department.
Jezmin Tejeda, who lives in 75 Randolph, called the blaze "scary."
"I got up because I heard noise," she said. "I thought people were fighting. Then I heard someone knock on my door and I went to the second floor to get everyone out."
Tamika Grayson, who lives on the second floor of 77 Randolph, said she arrived home from work and saw the flames.
"I came home and my (12-year-old) son had just gotten out and the building was on fire," she said. "He got out with help from a neighbor." The city has ordered the top floor removed and further evaluations will determine if the entire building has to be demolished, Jersey City Construction Code Official Ray Myers said.