Garfield cop loses home, pet cats to house fire

A Garfield police officer has lost the home shared with her parents in a fire that spread to several neighboring houses.

Garfield PBA Local No. 46 President Robert Meehan Jr.wrote on the union's Facebook page that Rebecca Schmidt, 34, "lost absolutely every item she owned, including her service weapon and uniforms" in the fire. Schmidt's family also lost their pet cat in the fire, Sgt. Jeff Steward of the Garfield department wrote on Instagram.

Fire Capt. Richard Uram told NorthJersey.com 14 other departments assisted with the fire. The New Jersey Red Cross told New Jersey 101.5 it assisted 10 people from three families affected by the fire.

Service on NJ Transit's Main Bergen Line was temporarily suspended by the fire.

The department said that Schimidt joined Garfield's force four years ago and volunteered in their community affairs department. She was a volunteer EMT while in high school with the city's ambulance squad.

The union has created a Venmo account to help the family at GarfieldPBA-FoundationINC.

A Facebook fundraiser was created for members of the Colon family, who also lost their home in the fire.

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