New Jersey apartment building collapses

[Mom2Ashli]

Did anyone hear about this?
OMG - I hope everyone is okay.

Very limited details at this time.
____________________________________________
News Story

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An apartment building collapsed on Tuesday after an explosion in New Jersey, police said, and CBS radio reported there were casualties.

A police spokesman in Bergenfield, New Jersey, had no further details of the incident, which sent up a large cloud of black smoke that could be seen from across the river in Manhattan. He could not confirm that there were casualties.

"It was an apartment building, unknown origin for the explosion," the spokesman said.

Television footage from the scene showed what appeared to be a building of at least three stories with firefighters battling to put out a fire.

 

[Mom2Ashli]

More information.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4525548.stm

An explosion has ripped through a New Jersey apartment building, sparking a partial collapse and fears of injuries.
A cloud of smoke visible from neighbouring Manhattan has billowed from the building in Bergenfield.

Emergency services rushed to the scene, several miles north-west of New York City, and residents were evacuated.

No details were available, but initial reports suggested that a gas leak may have caused a major explosion around 0930 (1430 GMT).

There were reports that people were trapped in the rubble of the collapsed block.


Television pictures showed a plume of steam and smoke rising from the three-storey building that appeared to have partially collapsed - with fires clearly visible inside the structure.

Firefighters used hoses and cannons to blast the building with water and retardant.

The BBC's Jeremy Cooke in New York says that bitterly cold weather has forced many to turn their domestic heating on continually to keep warm.

 

[ducklite]

They think a guy who was using heavy equipment in the area ruptured a gas line. Several injured, one missing. My best friend lives a few towns over in New Millford (intentionally spelled wrong because the filtering software is blocking it otherwise ) and heard the blast--her dogs went beserk.

Anne

 

[JVL1018]

I did hear about it..because it's it's my town and my husband is a lieutenant in the fire dept here.
He is at work in the city right now and is very upset not to be able to be working at the fire scene, it's killing him. He just started the job a mont ago so is not yet comfortable enough to tell them he's leaving for the day..but my brother is on the fire dept in Oradell(another local area town) and they sent a guy to the command post to see what's up and he is calling me with updates.

My brother called me this morning to ask me if DH knew that he was missing a huge fire..and if I could see the smoke. I had no idea what he was talking about and looked out my back door to see smoke billowing in the air. It's about a 1/2 mile from here but you can see the smoke from miles away.

I am worried about anyone in those apts, I can't see how they could have survived.

I am also worried about all our friends battling the fire.
I am sure they will still be up there working when DH gets home from work..and I am sure he'll go right there so I will report back what's going on.

 

[Mom2Ashli]

I did hear about it..because it's it's my town and my husband is a lieutenant in the fire dept here.
He is at work in the city right now and is very upset not to be able to be working at the fire scene, it's killing him. He just started the job a mont ago so is not yet comfortable enough to tell them he's leaving for the day..but my brother is on the fire dept in Oradell(another local area town) and they sent a guy to the command post to see what's up and he is calling me with updates.

My brother called me this morning to ask me if DH knew that he was missing a huge fire..and if I could see the smoke. I had no idea what he was talking about and looked out my back door to see smoke billowing in the air. It's about a 1/2 mile from here but you can see the smoke from miles away.

I am worried about anyone in those apts, I can't see how they could have survived.

I am also worried about all our friends battling the fire.
I am sure they will still be up there working when DH gets home from work..and I am sure he'll go right there so I will report back what's going on.

I pray for the people that were in the building.

 

[ducklite]

Here's a little good news--the gas leak was reported at 8:55am, the explosion occured at 9:30am. Most people had left for work/school, or had already been evacuated from the area. There were some injuries, but so far no casualties. One person is still listed as missing.

Anne

 

[Blueeyes101817]

wow..havent heard about this!

 

[JVL1018]

They are saying there has been one death so far.
I believe a man had called 911 after it first happened to say he was trapped, so it could very well be him.
There is no way anyone could get near the building at first to try and get anyone out.
Two friends of ours on the dept are on an urban search and rescue team(they went to Ground Zero in the aftermath and also to a parking garage collapse in Atlantic City last year- that kind of thing- to search for survivors) so even though we have a mostly volunteer dept., they are well trained in this type of situation-I know if they could have they would have been in there.
My husband is leaving work early and skipping his work Christmas Party to get there asap.
I want him to talk to the mayor for me to get the sizes of those who have been left homeless. I have a bunch of clothes and coats and kids snow pants and stuff that I can give. I can't imagine losing everything.

 

[JVL1018]

Another update-DH just got to the scene and gave me a call-3 confirmed dead.
They have them out, he was about to go in to the 3rd floor and start searching for 3 more that they think are in there.
He also said that there is still fire.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

OMG, I have several relatives in Bergenfield, and one is in the ambulance corp. As far as I know, none of them live in an apartment building, unless their adult kids do.

 

[Microcell]

That is too bad that there are fatalities.

 

[JVL1018]

OMG, I have several relatives in Bergenfield, and one is in the ambulance corp. As far as I know, none of them live in an apartment building, unless their adult kids do.

I will be thinking of your family.

 

[MagicKingdom05]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,178543,00.html

 

[Mom2Ashli]

Thanks for the updates.