Two Hudson County sheriff’s officer have been credited for helping evacuate residents from a five-alarm Jersey City Heights fire early Wednesday morning.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
On Wednesday, Hudson County Sheriff’s Officer Gary Nahrwold observed a working house fire at 10 Irving St. at approximately 3:00 a.m. and he requested the Jersey City Fire Department’s response, Sheriff Frank Schillari said in a statement.
During the time leading up to JCFD’s initial arrival, Nahrwold started to evacuate residents of the building on fire. Once he verified all occupants were out of the structure, he started to evacuate the adjacent buildings with the assistance of a Jersey City police officer.
Together both were able to get everyone out of the adjacent homes which by this point were being threatened by the fire, according to Schillari.
At that point, HCSO Sgt. Juan DePena arrived on scene and helped coordinate the evacuation of the residents to a safe location where they could be treated once JCFD and EMS arrived on scene.
“I would like to commend the heroic actions of my officers, the Jersey City Police Department, Jersey City Fire Department, and Jersey City EMS for working together to avert a bigger tragedy from occurring,” Schillari added.
The five-alarm fire caused a power line to come down, injuring several Jersey City firefighters, as well a displacing 18 people, though no residents were injured.
Yesterday, a GoFundMe was started for the Jersey City family of where the fire started since they lost everything in the blaze – including their cats and dog.
As of 12:30 p.m., the page has raised $9,665 towards their $25,000 goal.
