A deadly four-alarm fire ripped through the top floors of Applied Housing apartment complex around 3:30 this morning. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, according to Hoboken Fire Chief Richard Blohm. Because a woman died in the fire, the area has been declared a crime scene. The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office as well as the Hoboken Fire Department Arson Unit is on the scene now. The fire started sometime before 4 a.m. today, said Blohm in 1202-1208 Hudson Street, the Applied Housing complex. (There was a fatal fire in the same building earlier this year.)
"We were all sleeping. I took a deep breath and just inhaled smoke," said Nilda Cortes, 41. Cortes lived on the lives on the fifth floor of 1202 Hudson Street, where the fire started. She lived directly across the hall from an elderly woman who perished in the fire. Cortes said she opened the door to the hallway and all she could see was thick black smoke.
"I started screaming and banging on all the doors, trying to get my kids up," said Cortes. Smoke was so thick on the top floor the family couldn't see but they were able to make it down the main staircase to outside.
The entire four buildings on that block have been evacuated.
The city of Hoboken is asking all residents who are standing outside to go to the Red Cross/Hoboken Office of Emergency Management at Wallace School, at the corner of 11th and Willow Ave., for assistance.
Source : Nj
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