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Teaneck Fire Dept. Box 54
No one was injured, but several of the nearly 100 firefighters on hand vomited and suffered dehydration. An elderly couple living there were quickly ushered out by their son authorities said.
“It could have been pretty bad if he wasn’t home” when the fire ignited in the basement of the Fairmount Avenue home at 5:50 a.m., Glen Rock Police Chief Fred Stahman told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
“The son heard the alarm going off in the house,” Stahman said. “He opened the basement door and there was a lot of smoke there. So he ran upstairs and got his parents.”
Local firefighters got there in minutes, joined by reinforcements from several other towns — among them, Fair Lawn, Franklin Lakes, Hackensack, Hawthorne, Ho-Ho-Kus, Midland Park, Paramus, Saddle Brook, Waldwick and Wyckoff.
“They got there fast,” the chief told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “But the fire moved so fast. It went up through the walls.”
The Glen Rock Volunteer Ambulance Corp pitched a tent at the scene to provide shade. The Teaneck Fire Department sent its “54 Box” truck, providing fluids and other supplies to firefighters, who worked in shifts because of the intense temperatures outside and inside the two-story house.
“One shift would go in, then they’d pull them out,” Stahman said.
It took three hours to get the blaze completely under control.
“As soon as one fire was put out, another one started,” Stahman said.
The big question now is the cause. Investigators hadn’t made a determine as of early this afternoon. However, Stahman told CLIFFVIEW PILOT that it doesn’t appear suspicious in any way.
“It’s going to be a tough job trying to figure out what the source was,” the chief said. “Everything in the basement and through much of the house was totally destroyed.”
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