About 10 people were displaced after a house on East 39th Street in Paterson caught fire late Friday afternoon.
No one was injured in the fire that started at about 4:15 p.m. at the 2.5 story house, Deputy Fire Chief William Henderson said. The fire started on the second floor in a closed porch area and extended into the attic.
Most if not all of the residents were college students, Henderson said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
"The building needs some work," Henderson said. "It’s going to need to be repaired." Contractor Karo Simon said he was working on the corner nearby when he saw the smoke and called 911. Simon grabbed a hose from a neighbor's house and sprayed upward to the second floor, he said.
"I tried to slow it down best I can," Karo said. "I’ve seen so many fires and I hate reading about tragedies and fires. I just had an instinct kick in and I tried to help them best I could."