Upon arrival of Assistant Chief Bob Cassiello he was faced with smoke pushing from the eves of the structure.
Engine 612 and Ladder 613 were first to arrive on scene along with Engine 615, Engine 614, and Rescue 611, Chiefs Joe Baldino and Greg Telep, Garfield Truck 4, Maywood Engine 18. Thereafter, all companies were staffed with minimal manpower because of a funeral detail in Carlstadt that morning.
Despite the cold temperatures and icing conditions, the members made an aggressive interior fire attack combined with primary searches of all floors revealing that the floors in 2 bedrooms on the C/D side and D side of the structure had burned through indicating that the fire was in the basement of the dwelling. 3 lines were stretched and 1 line operated in the basement extinguishing the fire in a short period of time. Overhaul took extensive time due to the instability of the floors in the rooms that needed to be overhauled.
Mutual aid companies from Garfield FD, Little Ferry FD, Maywood FD, Saddle Brook FD and Rochelle Park FD responded to the borough for cover-up and additional manpower at the fire scene.
The fire remains under investigation by the Lodi Fire Prevention Bureau fire investigators and fire official Paul Wanco. F1 Assistant Chief Bob Cassiello was incident commander, F2 Assistant Chief Joe Baldino was basement operations, F3 Assistant Chief Greg Telep was First Floor Operations. |