-
Oct 9, 2007 12:41 pm US/Eastern
-
Digg |
Facebook |
E-mail
|
Print
Officials Investigate High-Rise Fire In Jersey City
Nearby Blocks Closed Over Fear Of Collapse
JERSEY CITY (CBS) ―
A fire broke out Monday night in a high-rise luxury condominium building under construction in Jersey City, forcing evacuations and creating a tough challenge for dozens of firefighters.
Intense flames shot into the sky and could be seen for miles as firefighters worked for hours trying to get the four-alarm blaze under control. Several times, firefighters were forced to pull back and fight the fire from the ground floor.
You could see the flames were ripping through the building and a lot of debris started falling," said Charles Wilson, who owns a neighboring pizza shop.
Fortunately, the building was vacant when the blaze began, but some residential areas surrounding the site had to be evacuated as a precatuion.
Officials say the fire started in an elevator shaft between the 17th and 18th floor and spread to the top, which posed a major problem for firefighters.
"They actually had a wooden ladder, and as the firemen were climbing down the ladder the fire was actually following them down the ladder," said W.G. Kierece, Director of the Jersey City Office of Emergency Management.
Those flames pushed firefighters out and that's when they tried to hook their hoses into the standpipe system on the exterior of the building facing more problems.
Sparks came raining down, debris hit the sidewalks, even propane tanks exploded from inside the building at 77 Hudson Street an apartment and condo high-rise slated to be open in the summer of 2009.
At least two floors collapsed before midnight and there were concerns that even more of the structure would give way. But officials have done an assessment of the building and believe it's structurally sound, saying the entire area is expected to reopen Tuesday night.
WCBSTV.com's Most Popular Pages
Slideshow: Openly Gay Celebrities
Slideshow: Celebrity Foot-In-Mouth Disease
Hollywood Walk Of Names: Celebrity Real Names Revealed
Slideshow: 100 Greatest Movies Of All Time
Slideshow: The Coolest Fighter Jets…Ever!
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)