4-alarm fire destroys home, severely damages another in Belleville, New Jersey

A major fire consumed two homes Thursday morning in New Jersey, leaving one destroyed and another severely damaged.

One of the families said the fire started on the second floor of their house on Crescent Terrace. They were woken up just before 3 a.m. by crackling noises and found the second floor engulfed. Their home partially collapsed due to the four-alarm blaze.

The flames also spread to a neighboring home.

When fire crews arrived, they struggled to find a working hydrant.

"They're running to the fire hydrants, looking for a fire hydrant, hooking them up, and there's no water coming out, so it was pretty terrible just watching it happen," Daphne Feliciano said.   

These issues are not new in Belleville. Back in May, when a massive warehouse caught on fire on Cortland Street, firefighting efforts were delayed because of low water pressure.

"They definitely have to either put more hydrants in because the town is very old," another resident said.

Fire Chief John Olivieri said the department is addressing the concern with the water department. 

"The fire hydrants were all working. We did have some pressure issues," he said. "We had enough water to extinguish the fire." 

The fire was so intense that firefighters evacuated the entire block in case the blaze spread further.

"I just got out of bed, started checking around, opened the upstairs door, and it was just completely engulfed in flames already. So then just like at that point, started running through the house, waking everybody up, getting everybody out," Feliciano said.

Residents said police arrived at the scene first and helped evacuate people.

"They really just jumped in, started helping, banging doors, helping our neighbors. We have neighbors that can't get out of their house, so they definitely did great," Feliciano said.

"All of our first responders, they have just been incredible," Belleville Mayor Frank Velez said.

David Nguyen and his family live next door to the Felicianos.

"I saw the fire, woke up my parents, my sister, and just ran out of the house," Nguyen said.

"Thankfully, everybody's out. That was the main concern. I don't know how many times we all checked, screamed for each other. We're all here. We're all here," Brandon Feliciano added.

No information about how the fire started has been released.