Evelyn Place Blaze is the Third Fire in Four Days

Residents of a multi-family dwelling at 13 Evelyn Place were evacuated at 3:05 Wednesday morning after a candle left by the window blinds caught fire, said Bloomfield Fire Chief Joseph McCarthy. 

“The report of a structure fire played out on arrival,” McCarthy told Patch in an interview today at Bloomfield Fire Department headquarters.  “The fire was on the second floor apartment of a six- or eight-family apartment building.  Police were on scene.  The building was evacuated by police and fire personnel.” 

There were no injuries to tenants and fire damage was confined to the apartment in which it began.  McCarthy noted that fire personnel arrived at the location within three minutes.

“If it had been four or five minutes, it’s no longer just one apartment that’s involved,” he said. “It was a fast attack, a quick knock-down by our crew, but the fire damage was minimal.” 

The Montclair Fire Department assisted the three Bloomfield engines at the scene. 

The Evelyn Place fire was the third fire in Bloomfield in nearly as many days.  Early Sunday morning a , and on Tuesday morning there was a chemical fire at the Hartz Mountain processing plant.  No one was injured in either fire.

Regarding the dormitory fire, McCarthy said a preliminary investigation has begun but so far the cause of the fire has not been determined. 

“The investigation didn’t find any cause other than accidental, but the investigation is not closed yet.”

In the Hartz fire, where a chemical torch exploded near multiple gas-filled cylinders and a live gas line, the Fire Department was again able to contain the blaze before any casualties occurred.

“That could have been catastrophic,” acknowledged McCarthy.  “There no middle ground in cases like that.  Either everyone goes home that night or there are CNN helicopters flying overhead.”