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Both a firefighter apparently suffering from heat exhaustion and a civilian who'd inhaled smoke were taken to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center for treatment Sunday night, Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale said
A citizen rang the doorbell of Paterson’s Northside Firehouse on Temple Street shortly after 5 p.m. to report a fire in a multi-family house up the block, Speziale said.
The two-alarm blaze quickly went to three bells after firefighters found heavy flames in the basement and rear of the 2½-story house, he said.
The fire extended to a neighboring home and melted the side of another, Speziale said.
Everyone got out OK as the fire went to four alarms for additional manpower and water before eventually being knocked down, the director said.
Firefighters remained into the night, dousing pockets of flame and guarding against a re-ignite, he said.
City smoke eaters were assisted at the scene by their colleagues from Hawthorne, Prospect Park and Totowa, Speziale said. Companies from Bergen and Passaic provided city coverage, he said.
A Paterson fire marshal was investigating the cause, the director said. The Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office also was notified.
Six families in all were receiving help with food, clothing and shelter from the American Red Cross, Speziale said.
“It was a long day for city firefighters,’ Paterson Fire Chief Brian McDermott said, “but a longer day for those affected by two swift-moving fires.”
Earlier Sunday morning, a city fire captain got two sleeping residents out of their beds before flames blew through the roof of a string of attached homes.
SEE: Paterson Fire Captain Rouses Sleeping Residents In Early-Morning Blaze
The chief extended “heartfelt concern” to the displaced families.
Speziale, meanwhile, praised McDermott’s firefighters as an "amazing and talented group of individuals always ready to answer the call.”
PHOTOS: BT Fire Photos
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