Fire officials are investigating the cause of a fire that broke out inside an apartment building on Braddock Avenue Sunday, displacing people from 37 apartments.
Rivers Edge Fire Chief CJ Kaminsky said due to the sprinklers, water damage was found on the first seven floors of the 8-story building.
Kaminsky said the residents will be displaced until the water can be removed and power can be restored.
“I heard the alarm, thought it was a drill, and then I opened up my door and smelled outside of my apartment, and said, ‘Now, I think this is real,’” John Siciliano said.
Fortunately, the flames were contained to that one apartment, Kaminsky said.
“Got a call from the tenant next door that the alarm was going off in the apartment next to her,” resident maintenance man, Bob Ketchum said. “We called the fire department. The sprinklers were activated. There was smoke coming out of the apartment, and fortunately nobody was home.”