Firefighters battled a scorching fire while it was only 11 degrees outside Friday in Dunellen.

The blaze broke out around 9 a.m. at a home on Jefferson Avenue. Conditions were so cold that fire hydrants froze and firefighters' face shields became coated with ice as they worked.

DPW workers were brought in to salt down the roadway to keep the firefighters from slipping at the scene. Special services set up heated tents for the men and women at the scene. Due to the frigid temperatures, fire crews had to rotate on and off the job.

It took close to 50 firefighters to put the fire out. The Dunellen Fire Department was aided by backup from four additional engine companies.

The raging fire got so hot it melted a stop sign near the house, while the cold temperatures outside were enough to totally freeze the water used to put out the flames.

Homeowner Matt Henning was at work when he was alerted to the situation. Despite everyone making it out safely, Henning says the fire claimed other, more material victims.

"I feel like hell, I lost everything literally," he says. "Except what I'm wearing, that car and one down the street and the clothes that are on my wife and the clothes that are on my son, that's it."

Henning's family is being put up by the Red Cross for the time being.