Massive fire at Edgewaters Avalon apartments; hundreds evacuated January 21, 2015, 5:51 PM Last updated: Wednesday, January 21, 2015, 11:35 PM By ABBOTT KOLOFF, MARINA VILLENEUVE, MINJAE PARK and JIM NORMAN Firefighters battled a five-alarm blaze at an Edgewater apartment complex Wednesday evening, but the advancing flames defied their efforts and destroyed the larger building of the four-story Avalon at Edgewater complex.There were no deaths or serious injuries in the blaze 102 Russell Ave., according to authorities. A 5-alarm fire rages at the Avalon apartments in Edgewater on Wed., Jan 21. Abbott Koloff / Staff A 5-alarm fire rages at the Avalon apartments in Edgewater on Wed., Jan 21. Photos: Firefighters battle 5-alarm blaze in Edgewater Police Chief William Skidmore said some people had fallen and suffered minor injuries during the evacuation, and a firefighter had cut a finger. “Approximately 400 residents were evacuated and there were no injuries among the residents,” said Edmund Rhoads, a spokesman for AvalonBay Communities, the owner of the complex. Skidmore said it was not determined what caused the fire, but officials were investigating reports that plumbers had been working in the area where it seemed to have started, in a wall of an apartment on the first floor at the south end of the structure. The residents ordered to evacuate the four-story building were led to the nearby Eleanor Van Gelder School at 251 Undercliff Ave. Other people were directed to shelter at the nearby recreation building, officials said. A smaller building of the complex, across the street from the burning structure, appeared to be saved from the flames, suffering only water damage, authorities said. By 9 p.m., large portions of the complex had begun to collapse, as the flames reached into the last remaining corner, at the northern end. A small, free-standing part of the complex standing near the central part of the raging blaze appeared to have escaped the flames, but not the prospect of heavy water damage, authorities said. Great clouds of black smoke and blasts of fire shot from the roof of the structure, as ladder trucks poured water into the growing blaze, with no sign that the fire was anywhere near under control at 7:40 p.m. more than three hours after it was first reported at 4:30. Flames and heavy smoke were pouring from the buildings, and police were keeping people more than a block away from the fire. The local volunteer fire company was assisted by firefighters and equipment from at least 11 nearby and distant municipalities, Hackensack, Fort Lee, Little Ferry, Teaneck, Tenafly, Hillsdale, Englewood, Mahwah, Oakland, New Milford and Franklin Lakes. A 5-alarm fire rages at the Avalon apartments in Edgewater on Wed., Jan 21. NBC 4 New York A photo made from an aerial video from NBC 4 New York shows the spread of the fire. The New York City Fire Department sent five fire boats to attack the blaze from the river in an effort to quell the flames. Fort Lee sent at least one ambulance, and the Bergen County Office of Emergency Management was on the scene. Much of the complex appeared to be completely consumed by the flames, with only skeletal remains of the structure visible in the red glow through the thick clouds of smoke. Fire officials called for more assistance as the blaze raged out of control, showering the rooftops of lower buildings across the street with flaming embers. Firefighters started pouring water on those buildings as well, in efforts to keep the fire from jumping to other structures. The fire spread to the north end of the complex, unchallenged in its raging advance, until firefighters from Hillsdale arrived in the area at 8:15 p.m. and started pouring water onto it from that end. Meanwhile, firefighters poured water from the cliffs above onto the flames in a continuing effort to stop the blaze from spreading. The fire started in the rear of the southern portion of the complex and quickly spread to the front and north, forcing firefighters to retreat and battle the blaze from the outside. By 7:45 p.m., the entire structure was engulfed in flames, with firefighters apparently having trouble getting water to the northern portion. A few minutes later, electrical power to the area was cut, a deliberate effort to prevent sparking from downed wires adding to the conflagration. Even the school where people took shelter lost its power, witnesses said. Gas was shut off as well, although firefighters were hampered by small explosions of gas remaining in the lines within the burning complex. A 5-alarm fire rages at the Avalon apartments in Edgewater on Wed., Jan 21. Viorel Florescu/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Firefighters on the scene of the raging fire. Emergency officials ordered onlookers and reporters from news media to relocate farther north. “This fire will keep moving,” one said. The crew aboard Chopper 4, a news helicopter operated by WNBC, reported that they had to double their altitude, from 1,500 feet to 3,000 feet, to stay clear of the towering flames and erupting embers shooting from the roof. The communities surrounding Edgewater, at higher elevations, were also being watched, as embers from the blaze were being whipped into the air. The Avalon apartment complex is also across the street from the Edgewater post office, and is located across from a shopping complex that contains a Trader Joes supermarket. One woman anxiously watching the scene, Lauren Jay, said her mother, father and grandmother first became aware of the fire when they smelled smoke and heard a knock on their door and an order telling them to get out. As they left, she said, they saw light smoke, but no flames. Gina Robertson, a neighbor who lives further down the street from the burning apartment complex, said she had lived even closer to the site in 2000, when an earlier fire destroyed the building then under construction and spread to her own home as well as others in the immediate area. The complex that was being consumed by flames Wednesday night was built at the site of the earlier fire. Related: From the archives: Inferno in Edgewater (8/31/2000) Hamza Abdul said he was at work when a colleague called to tell him of the blaze, so he rushed home. “I can’t believe it,” he said. “It’s all ashes now.” He said he planed to stay at a friend’s house. A 5-alarm fire rages at the Avalon apartments in Edgewater on Wed., Jan 21. Viorel Florescu/staff photographer Firefighters on the scene of the blaze. Sharif Elkasaby said his inlaws had just arrived for a visit three days earlier, “and now they are disoriented and frightened.” Julio Bravo and his wife, Maria, who live in Guttenberg, a Hudson County town to the south, said he had received a phone call from an ambulance crew member saying his 19-year-old daughter, Cynthia, who was studying with a friend in the Avalon, was aboard the vehicle. “I don’t know where she is,” Bravo said as his wife sobbed. “My daughter is in an ambulance, and I don’t know where she is.” Jon Browning, who lives in the small part of the complex not on fire, said he felt fortunate, but wondered if sprinklers had turned on and ruined any important documents, and if he and others would be able to go back inside. But things are replaceable, people arent, he said after getting off the phone with his roommate who is vacationing in South Korea and will be taking the first flight back that he can get. Maybe Ill be moving out, he said. The buildings are 100 feet apart. If theres construction, it could be pretty loud. Arturo Revilla, who has lived in the Avalon for a year and a half, arrived after the fire started. His mother had been evacuated to the complex clubhouse, then to the school. Everything we own is there, he said, adding that he was planning to spend the night at a nearby hotel. Abhishek Sharma watched the fire grow from his apartment across the street. The smoke began to come out the windows, and the flames just started shooting out, he said. “The toughest part is sitting out here on the other side and not knowing if my house is affected or not.” Paige McPartland described a scene of commotion she and her mother watched from their nearby balcony, as fire trucks arrived and people fled with their pets. By night they, too, had to evacuate because the fire spread and smoke blew toward their home. The apartment complex is owned by a subsidiary of AvalonBay Communities, a real estate investment trust based in Arlington, Va. According to a form filed by the company at the end of 2013 with the federal Securities Exchange Commission, the complex was completed in 2002, at a total cost of nearly $80 million. The complex has one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with rents ranging from $2,100 to $3,195. The apartment complex is on the site of the former Alcoa aluminum plant, where millions of aluminum cans and other products were manufactured until the plant closed in 1967. The plant, which was vacant for three decades, was demolished in the late 1990s in a project that included a cleanup of PCBs that contaminated the land. A $75 million apartment complex called Avalon River Mews was under construction on the site when a fire broke out on Aug. 30, 2000. The fire, one of the largest in Bergen County history, spread quickly and engulfed homes across the street on Undercliff Avenue. Nine homes were destroyed and several others damaged, along with more than a dozen cars. Thirty-nine families were displaced. Thirteen plaintiffs sued AvalonBay, the company that was managing the construction, as part of the case. Seven of the plaintiffs settled. The others received awards between $113,000 and $338,000 for losses from the fire. Staff writer Linh Tat contributed to this article.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 06:15:21 +0000