Friends said a woman and her teenage children lost most of their belonging when a July 4th weekend fire damaged their Passaic home.Firefighters quickly got to the Third Street address off Essex Street shortly before 8:30 p.m. and had the fire under control in barely a half-hour.They limited the fire damage to the first floor, where the blaze apparently began, and the second floor, which ...

A stubborn multi-alarm fire ravaged a vacant Palisades Park warehouse and spread to another.A firefighter sustained what was characterized as a minor injury in the Fairview Street blaze Saturday just off Grand Avenue down the street from westbound Route 46 in Palisades Park.Firefighters were met by heavy flames that quickly shot through the roof of the primary building shortly before 6 ...

The July Fourth weekend started off at Newark Airport's TSA security checkpoints with what wasn't exactly a bang but still drew a lot of attention.A TSA officer at a checkpoint X-ray monitor spotted a gun inside a traveler's carry-on bag, agency spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said.It was the 10th firearm picked off at a Newark Airport checkpoint this year, she said.The man told officials ...

Flames shot through a former church overnight in Paterson.No injuries were reported in the three-alarm blaze, which broke out in the Greater Assembly Holy House of Prayer on Arch Street, off North 1st, shortly before 2:30 a.m.Firefighters were quickly forced to an exterior attack as flames blew through the roof. It took nearly four hours to knock down the main body of the blaze.Fire ...

Maywood firefighters had not one but two fully involved overnight garage blazes to put down at once.The side-by-side garages caught fire at the end of Lenox Avenue behind Coach's Park near the municipal pool around 4:30 a.m. Friday.Firefighters had to blaze under control in under a half-hour, with minor extension to a home.No injuries were reported nor was a possible cause immediately ...

UPDATE: Authorities were searching for the former manager of a Passaic strip club who was convicted of participating in the video-recorded gang rape of a dancer during an after-hours party.Jurors this week found Luis Guzman, 41, guilty of several counts stemming from the Nov. 5, 2012 attack at Mr. B’s Gentlemen’s Club.Guzman attended the trial during testimony but skipped bail before ...

A disturbance call brought police to an Englewood home where they said they found an illegal pot grow house, complete with an irrigation system and special lighting.Authorities seized four pounds of packaged pot and more than 50 plants from the Knickerbocker Road residence off West Hudson Avenue, Lt. Fred Pulice said.The accused grower, Andrew Wepner, 40, had left before they got there ...

A Passaic County man was charged with threatening to lure a local police captain into a traffic stop so he could shoot him and chop his head off, authorities said.Jante Bagh, 41, called the Prospect Park Police Department on Tuesday and said he would lure the captain into a stop, “pop one in his head” and then cut it off, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes said.Bagh, who lives ...

A repeat offender bolted from Garfield police but was tracked down by a K-9 and removed with the help of firefighters after he tried hiding inside the ductwork of an abandoned building, authorities said.Officers Richy Mendez and Jaroslaw Wdowiak were responding to a resident’s car burglary call when they spotted city resident Jayden M. Barbarino Costa, 18, in the backyard of the ...

A 53-year-old motorcyclist died in a crash while exiting Route 3 in Rutherford, responders said.The borough resident was leaving the westbound highway when the crash occurred at the Ridge Road exit shortly before 10 p.m. Wednesday, Police Chief John Russo said.He was pronounced dead at the scene, the chief said.