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No injuries were immediately reported in the blaze, which ignited in a Van Buren Street home near Central Avenue around 11 a.m., Passaic Mayor Hector Carlos Lora said.
"All tenants are reported to be out and safe," the mayor said around noon. "Nobody appears to be in the building."
Firefighters were quickly removed after a partial ceiling collapse, Lora said. They had two ladder trucks and multiple hand lines in operation.
Although smoke met them at the scene, the fire may have begun in the basement and then shot up the wooden balloon-frame structure, responders said.
Mutual aid there and in coverage included firefighters from Carlstadt, Clifton, East Rutherford, Garfield, Little Falls, Paterson, Rutherford, Totowa, Wallington, West Paterson, Haledon, Prospect Park and Wayne.
EMS remained there on standby as a precaution, Lora said.
Animal control and PSE&G also responded.
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