Here are some images from the fire today on Laurel Avenue, just a few doors in from Chestnut Street.
Also, what we know so far:
Firefighters from Kearny, Harrison and Jersey City were on-scene as was the Jersey City Gong Club, which brings refreshments and relief for exhausted firefighters. There may have been other fire departments present, but it was hard to tell because the smoke at the scene was very strong and blowing at onlookers. North Hudson Regional FD is en route to the scene.
Two homes caught fire — 210 & 212 Laurel Ave., but it appeared the main fire was at 212 (unconfirmed)
Kearny Fire Chief Joseph Mastandrea was on the scene as well, but was busy as the incident commander — so details, so far, are scarce.
We did speak with a few people who live nearby and who were watching the fire — one resident told The Observer several people were rescued from one of the homes as was a dog and cat.
Once more details are available, we will bring them to you immediately.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.