NOTE: This article was updated to include rising totals for the number of people injured and displaced by the fire, plus photographs provided by the city.
A three-alarm fire spread through four apartment buildings in Newark overnight on Sunday, injuring two firefighters and two civilians, and displacing 24 families, officials said.
Units from the Newark Fire Division responded to a 1:14 a.m. call reporting a fire on the 100 block of Woodside Avenue, according to a statement from Emanuel Miranda. The city’s public safety director said a second alarm was called at 1:28 a.m., and a third alarm ten minutes after that.
A total of four people were injured, including two civilians, a fire captain who suffered a head injury, and a firefighter who complained of pain resulting from a fall, officials said.
All four were taken to University Hospital in Newark, where officials said they were treated and released.
He said the blaze was declared under control at 6:10 a.m. The cause remained under investigation, Miranda said.
The two dozen families displaced by the fire included a total of 67 people, 49 of them adults and 18 children.
Sheri Ferreira, spokesperson for the Red Cross of Northern New Jersey, said the non-profit agency had opened a temporary shelter in cooperation with the city at Newark’s John F. Kennedy Recreation & Aquatic Center, 211 W. Kinney St.
Ferreira said people displaced by the fire were being taken there to warm up, eat, have a place to sleep, and seek other help, including winter clothing.
“It was very cold when everyone was evacuated, and some people at the shelter did not have any,” Ferreira said just before noon on Sunday. “We’re in the process of checking everyone in and checking what their needs are.”
Officials said an overnight fire in Newark on Sunday injured two firefighters and two civilians and displaced 24 families from several homes on Woodward Avenue.Newark Department of Public Safety
Nobody knows Jersey better than NJ.com Sign up to get breaking news alerts straight to your inbox.
Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com