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14 people displaced after fire damages Haddonfield, New Jersey condo building

Over a dozen residents have been displaced after a two-alarm fire damaged a condo building in Haddonfield, New Jersey, Thursday morning, officials said.

The fire broke out shortly before 5:30 a.m. at the Haddon Commons condominium complex on the 400 block of Haddon Avenue.

Haddonfield Fire Chief Patrick Gorman said the blaze broke out in one of the units. By the time firefighters made it to the scene, at least one unit was fully involved, Gorman said.

Gorman said it took firefighters about 50 minutes to get the blaze under control.

Images from the scene showed a column of smoke rising from the roof of the building.

Fire at condo complex in Haddonfield, New Jersey
Fire at condo complex in Haddonfield, New Jersey CBS Philadelphia

Four units were badly damaged by the flames and eight other units have water and smoke damage.

Authorities said no one was injured as a result of the fire, but two cats died. Several units in the building have been deemed uninhabitable, and the American Red Cross is helping 14 residents from six families who are displaced.

"There were some individuals in there with hearing disabilities," Gorman said. "They didn't actually hear the fire alarms and all of the commotion originally. We did make entry into their apartment, got them out safely, put them in the sheltering area. It's very impactful, but it's nice to see the community pull together."

Patrick Samulis has lived here a little more than a year and says he's thankful no one was injured.

"We had gone down the stairs and we went outside, and we realized the gravity of the situation, that it was a major, major fire," Samulis said. "It wasn't just something burning on someone's stove, so we went back in and banged on some more doors to wake up as many people as possible and luckily everyone made it out alive."

County officials say the fire appears to be an accident caused by an electrical device, but it's still under investigation.

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