‘There were a few tense moments’: 2 children, 2 adults rescued from burning N.J. apartment

Firefighters rescued four people from a Millville apartment building and seven others were treated for minor injuries after a two-alarm blaze broke out early Monday.

Millville Fire Department responded to 114 North High St. shortly after midnight for a fire in a three-story building that features store fronts on the ground floor and apartments on the second and third floors.

Firefighters encountered heavy flames in the third-floor hallway, which left several residents trapped in their apartments, explained Millville Fire Chief Michael Lippincott.

“The crew arrived and they had four people at the front windows who had been cut off by the fire and needed rescue,” Lippincott said.

As crews battled the hallway blaze, the company’s ladder truck arrived and the four trapped residents, including two children, were taken to safety.

While those residents didn’t need medical treatment, seven others were taken to hospitals for minor smoke inhalation, the chief said. No firefighters were injured.

“It was a little hectic at first. The people up in the window were obviously under a lot of stress,” Lippincott said. “The fire was literally right outside of their apartment door. There were a few tense moments there at the very beginning.”

By keeping their doors closed, fire damage was confined mainly to the hallway area.

“They kept their apartment doors closed and that was good, so most of the apartment units just had smoke damage,” Lippincott said. “Most of the real fire damage was in the common hallway that ran through the building.”

The exact number of residents displaced is still being determined, but the initial count was seven, the fire chief said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the city fire marshal and police department.

Matt Gray may be reached at [email protected].

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