Update: 3-Alarm Fire on Westfield Road Circle

Dozens of firefighters responded to a three-alarm fire in Scotch Plains on Wednesday afternoon.

The blaze, which started at 4:43 p.m. police said, destroyed about half of the residence located at 2104 Westfield Road Circle. No injuries were reported, and the cause is not yet known. Authorities do not suspect foul play, according to a senior firefighter familiar with the township's preliminary investigation. Firefighters at the scene spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk with reporters.

Mary Enard, 85, who lived in the Cape Cod-style house with her daughter and granddaughter, narrowly missed the start of the fire. Shortly before 4:45 p.m., she said, she was walking along Westfield Road Circle with her physical therapist. About 20 yards from the house, she smelled smoke.

"I turned and saw smoke coming out the front of the house," she said. "I heard several booms, like, 'Poof!'" The physical therapist then called the fire department.

Soon, flames shot from first- and second-story windows of the house and garage. Smoke billowed from all sides, rising above the tree line in a dark gray cloud, visible from a half-mile away.

"When I came out, it was just some smoke coming out the front and back," said Al Speranza, 45, who said he lives two houses away from Enard. "Before you knew it, it was going."

After the physical therapist called the fire department, Enard phoned her daughter and granddaughter, who she said were buying groceries in Garwood.

"I told them the house was on fire, and they had better get home," Enard said. When they turned onto Westfield Road Circle, one neighbor said, "they were crying."

Neither Enard's daughter nor her granddaughter would speak on the record or comment for this piece.

Scotch Plains police and firefighters, arriving in minutes, issued a call for mutual aid from neighboring communities. The fire was also soon elevated from two alarms to three.

In all, six fire departments responded: Fanwood, Clark, Cranford, Garwood, Plainfield and Westfield. Some went to the scene, others remained on standby, awaiting other community calls. Members of the Union County Office of Emergency Management, the county Sherriff's Office, and the county's fire investigation unit also responded.

"It was pretty intense," said Zach Silsby, 39, a neighbor who arrived at his house shortly after fire crews arrived at the scene. "The entire back of the house was on fire."

As Enard, her family, and their neighbors looked-on, firefighters entered the house multiple times to extinguish the blaze. Others broke windows and punched holes in the roof to let the smoke escape.

"We were lucky if we could see two feet in front of us," one firefighter said. "The kitchen was fully involved." Another firefighter said that Enard's bedroom was also engulfed in flames.

By 5:30 p.m., firefighters had extinguished most of the blaze. Buzz saws and pry bars replaced hose lines, as firefighters further ventilated the house and garage. Senior fire officials manned a command post set-up on a table across the street from the house.

More than 60 yards away, nearly a dozen fire, police, medical, and other emergency vehicles lined Westfield Road, their lights swirling and flashing. Passersby stood on the sidewalk, astride bikes or simply in the shade, kept at bay by police. Officers diverted traffic at Westfield Avenue and Evergreen Avenue.

Enard's granddaughter did indicate that she, her mother, and her grandmother will spend the night at Enard's home in Westfield.

"The way I am about these things, there's nothing you can do about it," Enard said of the fire and the damage it caused.

The investigation into the cause of fire is ongoing. Stay tuned to the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Patch for further developments.