Essex County Breaking News: Fire in Newark's Ironbound Displaces 58 People

Antonio Campos was sleeping in his Ferry Street apartment Saturday morning when the smell of smoke woke him up. As he moved quickly to get out of his building at 190 Ferry St. in Newark's Ironbound district, the man witnessed his block in flames.

"I was scared," said Campos, as he made his way back to his apartment Saturday afternoon to collect what was left of his belongings.

Hours earlier, a four-alarm fire ripped through his neighborhood in the city's East Ward, leaving 58 people displaced, including Campos, according to fire officials.

Newark Fire Capt. John Brown said  until it was placed under control around 7:41 a.m. Brown said the fire spread to 196, 192 and 190 Ferry St., as well as 127 Polk St. Campos' building sustained only water damage, but Brown said the other buildings are "severely damaged."

The cause is under investigation.

The fire captain said three people were rescued, including one ready to jump from a window. He also said two people suffered minor injuries, including a firefighter. Both were taken to University Hospital.

During the fire, another fire in the city's Ironbound broke out at 679 Ferry St. around 2:45 a.m. Brown said that one-alarm fire set ablaze cargo trailers and "a couple" cars. No injuries were reported in that incident and the cause has not been determined.

Brown said 13 fire departments total from surrounding towns helped battle both blazes: Belleville, Bloomfield, Cedar Grove, East Orange, Elizabeth, Jersey City, Livingston, Millburn, Nutley, Orange, South Orange, Verona and West Orange.

At the scene of the four-alarm fire Saturday morning, PSE&G utility workers used jackhammers to drill a portion of Ferry Street in front of the buildings, while firefighters demolished interior portions of the fire-ravaged dwellings. At one point, smoke filled the air again as firefighters battled flare ups with water hoses.

By Saturday afternoon, more than a dozen displaced people, including Campos, toted suitcases and trash bags of clothes and toiletries, as they made arrangements to sleep at friends' or family's homes. Campos said he's staying with friends. Brown said the American Red Cross assisted four of the 58 people displaced.

Eyewitnesses said the fire started at the 198 Ferry St. building that borders Polk Street. It is a mint-colored, vinyl-sided structure that housed Yes Travel, a popular cyber cafe and travel agency office, a Metro PCS store and apartments.

Frank Barbosa, of Newark, said he saw flames ravage the top roof of the corner building and then move to Estrela Da Beira Supermarket, a neighboring grocery store. Eventually, the whole grocery store was on fire, he said.

"It's crazy," Barbosa said, gesturing to the damage. "This is a famous street. 'War of the Worlds' was filmed here."

On the street Saturday afternoon were black-charred wood pieces, discarded packets of the fruit juice Tang and some produce from the damaged grocery store.

Frank Farinhas, who took pictures and video of the fire, said the blaze was so intense he could feel the heat at Van Buren Street, a block away, "I've never seen anything like this go up in flames. Not on Ferry Street."

Throughout the night, onlookers posted videos and photos to the social networking site Twitter. One video posted around 2 a.m. by the user "djlilcee" shows police and fire activity. Kristian Bauer, of Jersey City, tweeted around 3 a.m., "Woah. Just got home from @therealTDH concert and we can see a fire in Newark from our apt. According to the twitters, it's a 4 alarm."

Antonio Pinentel, who owns the building at 190 Ferry St., which houses Campos' apartment and Continental hardware store, was at the scene Saturday afternoon to assess damage.

"I am very concerned," he said about the displaced apartment dwellers. "These people I know; they are my friends."