Fire damages three homes in North Plainfield, chief says

NORTH PLAINFIELD — Families in two houses escaped after a fire that severely damaged three Wednesday morning.

Fire officials told CBS New York they arrived around 2:45 a.m. to Maple Avenue in North Plainfield and found a fire in three adjacent houses. Fire chief William Eaton told News 12 New Jersey the fire started in the middle house, which was under construction.

One woman told Eyewitness News reported she yelled to her family to get out after she was awoken to the sounds of "crackling, big pops" from the fire, which lit up her bedroom.

Eaton told PIX 11 the houses are very close together, making it easy for a fire to spread.

Everyone made it out safely out of the two occupied houses, Eaton told News 12. Six residents from other nearby houses were evacuated, fire officials told PIX 11.

Fire officials told RLS Metro Breaking News 50 firefighters responded to the blaze in a neighborhood off Route 22. One firefighter was injured and treated at Somerset Medical Center, officials told RLS.

It was the second major fire in North Plainfield in the past two weeks. Fire heavily damaged a two story house on Grove Street on May 12 injuring two men inside, according to Somerset County Prosecutor Michael H. Robertson.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ

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