UPDATE: Girl Jumps 3 Stories To Safety During Mahwah Fire: Police

MAHWAH, NJ - A little girl jumped three stories into the arms of police officers as a fire raged at the Society Hill Village apartment complex on Juniper Way Tuesday afternoon, said Mayor William Laforet, who was at the scene.

The fire started in a third-floor unit shortly after 4:09 p.m., police said. A woman was walking by and said she saw a 9-year-old girl trapped on a third-floor balcony.

“I don’t know how she didn’t catch on fire,” the witness said. “At first she was hesitant, but then she jumped.”

Lt. Jeffrey Dino saw the girl as well. She was surrounded by smoke and was home alone when the fire occurred, police said.

The girl tried to leave the building but the stairwell was filled with smoke and went back inside the apartment, said Chief James N. Batelli.

Lt. Dino got the girl to jump into his arms, Batelli said. She was taken a Mahwah ambulance at the scene and examined by emergency medical technicians. The girl was released to her mother, who arrived a short time later.

The girl jumped into the arms of two Mahwah police officers, the witness said.

“They saved her life,” the woman said.

Police and firefighters went around knocking on doors, making sure everyone was evacuated. Eight dogs were also rescued from the building, the woman said. There were no reports of injuries, Laforet said.

“It is a shock of a fire for our community, but it is a demonstration of the magnificence of the police, fire, and office of emergency management to respond together and so quickly so that there was no loss of life,” Laforet said.

Authorities said the fire may have started in a third-story unit across from where the young girl lived. An elderly woman, who escaped the fire unharmed, lives there, the chief said.

Arson Investigator Sgt. Michael Blondin is investigating the exact cause of the fire, but authorities said it is not suspicious, Batelli said.

Town Inspector John Lane deemed several of the units uninhabitable due to fire, smoke, and water damage.

The three-story, eight-unit building does not have indoor sprinklers and a firewall in the common attic consisted of double sheetrock walls, which was code at the time the building was built, police said.

The township will open a temporary shelter until the displaced residents can make plans to stay elsewhere.

Fire and smoke shoot out of the building on Juniper Way in Mahwah Tuesday/Courtesy of William Laforet