West Orange Fire Leaves 25 Without Homes, Pets Missing: Officials

WEST ORANGE, NJ — West Orange firefighters quickly put out a fire at row houses on Northfield Avenue last weekend, but more than two dozen people were left without homes, authorities said.

Emergency responders rescued several pets at the apartments and took them to an emergency veterinarian. Two dogs are still unaccounted for as of Tuesday, a town spokesperson said.

According to West Orange officials:

“A two-alarm fire occurred at approximately 3:30 a.m. on June 30 in row houses at 17-19 Northfield Avenue in West Orange. The Red Cross arrived for the approximately five families (25 people) who had been displaced by the fire. There were four apartments in each building and it’s unclear which apartments were unoccupied. All residents were accounted for and all searches were reported negative. The main body of fire was extinguished within 20 to 30 minutes and the fire was placed under control while crews performed overhaul to confirm extinguishment.”

The Essex County Prosecutors Office was notified and there is an ongoing investigation, West Orange authorities said.

A GoFundMe fundraiser has been started for one of the families left homeless in the blaze. Here’s how to make a donation.

“On the morning of June 30, 2019, our family, was in a devastating fire,” the GoFundMe campaign states. “The house burned down, and all possessions were lost, thankful that no one was harmed and safely evacuated the home. The outlook is extremely positive --it is a miracle that all safely made it out alive and unharmed. We are blessed to be alive and well however, we have lost everything leaving our home with the clothes on our back. Unfortunately, there was not enough time to collect any belongings due to the circumstances.”

The GoFundMe continues:

“As we stood there in tears and silence we try to remain positive. We must do our due diligence to try to make it through the day. Today we ask that you help fight alongside us. We are hoping to raise $23,500 to cover the basic costs of our clothing/necessities replacement, and subsequent psychiatric needs for processing the effects of this event moving forward.”

A local videographer posted the below video taken at the scene of the fire.

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