Date: April 15, 2002

Time: 8:22 PM

Address: 26 Hilton Street, Belleville, NJ

Incident: Fire breaks out in attic space, routes residents from their home.

Residents sitting down to enjoy an evening dinner were abruptly routed from their home when they discovered a fire burning in their attic on Monday evening.

9-1-1 calls were received at 8:22 PM reporting a fire in the attic at 26 Hilton Street, off Franklin Avenue. EMS # 1 and Truck # 1 arrived within one minute, and reported a working fire in the attic of a three-story frame building. Firefighters stretched a handline from the truck and advanced it to the third floor. Engine # 2 arrived and laid in a secondary water supply from Franklin Avenue, and then brought in a second hoseline to backup the first line already in place. Engine # 3 and EMS # 2 arrived and brought their manpower to the front of the building to do searches and shut down utilities. Battalion Chief # 3 (Anthony DeBerto) called for a FAST Team to respond from Nutley Fire Department, while a company from Bloomfield Fire Department staged at Belleville Fire Headquarters.

The blaze spread throughout the open space of the attic. The fire was initially difficult to gain access to, as the only opening to the attic space was a small hatchway. Firefighters had to cut a larger opening into the attic so they could crawl up into the void space and extinguish the flames. They also pulled the ceilings down in the third floor kitchen and bedroom with hooks to gain access from underneath.

The fire was handled by the on-duty response Truck #1, EMS #1 and #2, Engine #2 and #3, and the Battalion Chief. The fire was declared under control at 8:45 PM, and completely extinguished by 9:00 PM. Firefighters remained on the scene until approximately 9:35 PM conducting an investigation and overhauling the building.

The residents of the apartment units were home at the time of the fire, and were able to return to the first floor apartment for the night. The building sustained moderate fire damage to the third floor and attic, with smoke and water damage on the second floor. The building was turned back to the owners after extinguishment, where they remained on the first floor unit overnight. Those residents on the second and third floor apartments stayed with relatives. The Office of Citizen Services and the Building Department were notified to respond to check conditions. There were no civilian or firefighter injuries reported.

The cause of the fire was investigated, and while no official cause has been listed, the preliminary reports indicate that it could be accidental, related to problems with the electrical wiring in the attic area. ####