Flames erupted in a three-story building in Jersey City overnight, quickly spreading to a next-door building and injuring a half-dozen of the firefighters who responded to the scene, authorities say.
Emergency crews were called to the scene on Fourth Street around 1:30 a.m. and found multiple structures engulfed. Investigators say both buildings were vacant.
The flames were so intense that they at one point caused floors to collapse onto the ground floor, officials said. Residents said the fireball could be seen from the Holland Tunnel.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. Fire officials say neighbors reported that vagrants sometimes stay in the building where the fire started.
“The people who own this, they need to take care of this and make it safe, because this shouldn’t have happened,” a neighbor said.
The injured firefighters are all expected to be OK. Their ailments ranged mainly from smoke inhalation to heat exhaustion.