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Township Police Sgt. Roy Scherer was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center after sustaining “a good gash to the head,” Fire Director Tom Sears told the website.
Scherer and state Assemblyman Robert Schroeder were among the firefighters from Washington Township, Westwood, Woodcliff Lake, Hillsdale and Emerson who descended on 285 Coolidge Avenue around 9:45 p.m. Sunday, the director said.
Moments earlier, the homeowner was in the garage, filling his car tank, when fumes from the gasoline ignited, Sears told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
The man escaped, as did his wife — who was inside the house — but the flames quickly blew out the garage and through the first-floor bay windows, he said.
Although the fire was declared under control at 11:30, there were still pockets of flames in the attic and elsewhere well past midnight.
“We still hours of work to do,” Sears told CLIFFVIEW PILOT at 12:15 a.m.
The blaze, which came less than 48 hours after the shooting death of a man who confronted police outside his parents’ home, turned things into “a crazy weekend for Washington Township,” said Mayor Janet Sobkowicz, who was at the scene.
“The neighbors said they couldn’t believe the flames shooting out of here,” Sobkowicz told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “But the departments in the area quickly came to our aid. Everything was coordinated really well.”
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