Firefighters Battle 4 Fires In Trenton, Including 7-Alarm Blaze At Warehouse
TRENTON, N.J. (CBS) -- It's been a very long day for Trenton firefighters after four fires broke out in the city.
The largest, a massive fire that engulfed a warehouse, was located in the 100 block of Taylor Street and North Olden Avenue.
Firefighters battling that blaze said it reached seven alarms. Firefighters from nearby Hamilton Township were also assisting battling the blaze.
"All you saw was red, red, red fire," says Tonya Bethea, who lives in the area. "My neighbor came down and knocked on the door, and she said, 'Tonya, there's another fire,' and I'm like, 'Another one?'"
The owners of the building told CBS 3 that the building has been abandoned for approximately four years. Another fire reportedly broke out there in October. Neighbors say vagrants go in and out.
After 12 plus hours, ladder hoses are still dousing flames and there is more work to do.
"There's still some hidden pockets of fire that we need to extinguish. The only way we're going to do that is we'll actually have to tear down and expose some of the building so we can get our hose streams in and actually put this fire out," Deputy Chief Leonard Carmichael of Trenton Fire Department said.
In addition to battling the warehouse fire, firefighters also battled two other fires on Thursday morning, and a third one that broke out Thursday afternoon.
The first fire started at about 8:30 a.m. inside a home in the 400 block of Centre Street. That fire was placed under control at about 9:15 a.m.
The other fire broke out inside a home in the 100 block of Monmouth Street and reached two alarms. Two people were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation, but there was no word on their conditions.
A third fire, located at 823 Genesee Street, broke out around 3:15 p.m.
"It's a collaborative effort together," says Fire Chief Brady Griffin. "I don't know what today is, but today is a very unusual day."
All in temperatures so frigid the water quickly turns to ice.
"We made sure we kept rotating companies in and out to make sure everybody was freshly rehabbed. We also called out a sand truck," Deputy Chief Carmichael said.
As of 4:15 p.m., all four fires were said to be under control, but the cause remains unknown.
The fire marshal is investigating.
