Hundreds homeless after fire rips through Passaic apartment building
Sunday, April 16, 2017 01:15AM
PASSAIC, New Jersey (WABC) -- Hundreds of people were left homeless after a six-alarm fire tore through an apartment building in Passaic on Saturday afternoon.
The fire started shortly before 1 p.m. at 112 Gregory Ave.
Carla Bravo has lived in the building for decades.
"It's awful. The memories. I grew up in that building, and to see my parents cry because they lost absolutely everything. It's sad. It's sad to see the building that you lived in over 25 years burned out right before your eyes," Bravo says.
She and her family of five, along with her dog, managed to escape with only the shirts on their backs.
Pablo Peres' niece was home when the fire broke out.
"She see some smoke come out, and she said to everyone 'fire, fire, fire!'" Peres says.
Firefighters were still working to get the fire under control late Saturday evening.
"Our concerns are obviously the structure and potential collapse. That's why we're willing everyone to back up," says Mayor Hector Lora.
Fire officials say it started on the top floor of the five-story building.
Only a handful of minor injuries to firefighters and civilians were reported. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.