Firefighters rescued a man from a four-alarm fire Monday morning in Bayonne, New Jersey.
According to a statement from the department, at approximately 10:20 a.m. on Monday, May 13, 2024, the city’s Public Safety Telecommunications Center began to receive multiple calls reporting a house fire at 19 East 15th Street. First arriving were Bayonne police officers, who reported heavy fire with a person trapped on the third floor.
Arriving firefighters found fire conditions at 19 and 21 E. 19th. Firefighters from Tower Ladder 2 immediately raised a ground ladder up to the person trapped at the third floor window and performed a ladder rescue to bring the trapped resident to safety.
Firefighters used multiple handlines to extinguish the fire, which also spread to 17 E 15th St. The fire progressed to four alarms before it was brought under control at 11:40 a.m.
The rescued occupant was the only person injured, and was reportedly transported for minor smoke inhalation. The fire is under investigation.
Three buildings have been deemed temporarily uninhabitable, with a total of 14 people displaced. These occupants are under the care of the Bayonne Office of Emergency Management and the Red Cross.
“I want to commend all the firefighters who responded and battled this fire,” Bayonne Fire Chief Keith Weaver said in the statement. “Under hectic conditions, they performed a dangerous ladder rescue from approximately 30 feet in the air on a ground ladder, then quickly extinguished the large fire, which could have been much worse. I also want to thank our mutual aid partners for their response into Bayonne.”
