LEFT: Fire rages at 199 Laurel Ave. RIGHT: Aftermath of fire shows badly ravaged rear of 199 Laurel (l.) and damaged
siding at 197 Laurel.
A house that reportedly was due to be sold this week was left “no longer habitable” after fire ripped through it in the early morning hours Sept. 22.
KFD Chief Steve Dyl said the blaze at 199 Laurel Ave., between Beech and Chestnut Sts., started about 1:40 a.m. last Tuesday in a rear deck area outside and spread up the back of the one-family home into the attic, causing “severe damage.”
Before it was brought under control at 3:46 a.m., it grew to three alarms, with firefighters from Kearny, Harrison, North Arlington, Belleville and Jersey City battling the inferno.
Luckily, all but one of the occupants had already moved out in anticipation of the sale and the remaining resident was not injured.
On Friday, following a KFD investigation, Dyl reported that the fire was determined to have been accidental.
Videos taken at the height of the blaze show huge flames rising from the home, making it appear as though several structures were being consumed.
Actually, there was “moderate to extreme damage” to the exterior of 197 Laurel, Dyl said, noting that that neighboring house had been undergoing repairs since it was the scene of a fire three years ago.
The blaze at 199 was difficult to combat because of its multiple-layer ceilings, the chief explained. Underneath the main roof, there reportedly was a tin roof, which “doesn’t come down easy,” and triple ceilings of plaster, wood and sheetrock.
According to an insurance adjuster, Observer correspondent Ron Leir reported, a woman named Sadie Smith had lived in the house until her death this past Mother’s Day, at which time it was left to her four grandchildren, all in their late teens to early 20s. The adjuster said it was due to be sold by Sept. 30.
The day after the blaze, Leir went to the scene, where he encountered off-duty Firefighter Andrew O’Donnell, a nephew of Smith. O’Donnell told Leir that the four grandchildren had been taken in and raised by his aunt (Smith’s sister) and uncle after the youngsters’ parents passed away. “They’ve had a rough life,” he said.
O’Donnell said the grandchildren had been living part of the time in the Laurel Ave. home since Smith’s death.
– With Ron Leir
