By Walter Elliott
EAST ORANGE – City and Essex County fire investigators are still searching as of press time for what started a blaze that destroyed two Amherst Street homes, damaged two others and sent 12 residents into sub-freezing weather here early Oct. 19.
It took 80 firefighters – all East Orange Fire Department hands plus mutual aid from eight neighboring companies – to bring the four alarm fire under control by 7:17 a.m. Wednesday sunrise. Many of the said units remained at the scene or were covering EOFD’s four stations as of 8:45 a.m.
Amherst itself was closed by city fire and police between Central Avenue and Harvard Street as of 8:50 a.m. Halsted, where mutual aid units from Bloomfield and Montclair attacked the fire from 131-139 Amherst’s backyards, was also closed between Central and Harvard. Halsted’s closure rerouted NJTransit’s No. 97 bus service.
Central Avenue itself was closed in the predawn between North/South Clinton Street and Evergreen Plaza, affecting buses on NJTransit’s No. 94 and CoachUSA’s No. 24 routes.
“Local Talk” is looking to confirm or quash reports of “no major injuries” from the blaze and/or firefighting.
Members of the three displaced families and their neighbors, however, were quick to point at 135 Amherst as the fire’s source. The 1940-built 2.5-story wood frame house has been off the real estate market since 2019 and was boarded up.
The families and their neighbors told authorities and reporters that they had heard popping sounds from within 135 Amherst. They said that the house has held squatters and have complained before.
Mayor Theodore “Ted” Green said, while at the scene, that this time of year is when squatters and the homeless will enter abandoned houses to keep warm.
“We’ve a number of records and files that we did reach out to the owner of that property,” said Green. “Our police department has been out here a number of times. But that (doesn’t) negate what happened with this fire and maybe we need to get better with what we’re doing.”
The first EOFD units arrived at 4:18 a.m. to find 135 engulfed in flame and smoke. The fire quickly spread to adjacent houses on the block’s west side.
131 Amherst, built in 1970, would suffer damage to its south side and roof. 137 Amherst, to 135’s south, suffered serious damage. 139 was also touched by the fire before it was brought under control.
The on-scene EOFD incident commander promptly pulled two more alarms, one to call out all city fire personnel and a two more for mutual aid. Firefighters quickly evacuated what residents remained at 131, 137 and 139 Amherst.
Units from Bloomfield, Montclair, Newark, Orange and Livingston soon arrived at the scene. More units from the South Essex, Belleville and Millburn departments provided station coverage.
A drone from News12 New Jersey and WCBS2’s helicopter brought overhead views of the fire. Its smoke, from sunrise, could be seen from Route 280 and NJTransit’s Morris & Essex Line.
PSE&G brought a truck to sever downed power lines. Vehicles from the East Orange Water Commission, the Bell and Siren Club and a private site cleaner were on standby on the AutoZone and city permit parking lots. A NJTransit NABI bus came from its Orange garage to become a warming center.
Green said that he, his office and the local American Red Cross chapter are working to help the displaced with food, clothing and temporary housing. A Red Cross Disaster Relief minivan, indeed, was parked on a lot.
The city’s CERT team was also reportedly assisting at the scene.
The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Arson Squad is also investigating as a standard operating procedure.
