Fire erupts at 4-story East Orange building
The fire occurred at the corner of South Arlington Avenue and Beech Street.
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Fire crews in East Orange spent hours putting out flames at a four-story building in East Orange on Sunday.
The fire occurred at the corner of South Arlington Avenue and Beech Street.
Firefighters were able to bring the blaze under control.
Neighbors said they saw flames shooting out of the building.
"When I looked outside, the sky was filled with black smoke, and I looked. The fire was on this side of the building just blazing up," said resident Avis Hutchison.
Smoke fille the neighborhood this Mother's Day as fire crews spent most of the holiday putting out the smoke and flames.
"The biggest problem fighting it was the type of construction. It's ordinary construction," said Bruce Davis, of the East Orange Fire Department, explaining that the brick walls were able to hold up. Crews would have to extinguish the fire from the inside.
"So what happens is the fire is in void spaces. You got the power pit collapsing, total roof collapse," he added.
The structure is an old residential building. Damages occurred on the second, third and fourth floors.
The building was vacant and there were no injuries.
"We were able to evacuate the buildings that were occupied just to make sure people were safe but the number one priority is make sure people are safe," said East Orange Mayor Ted Green.
All the streets leading to the building that were blocked off earlier were reopened.
