Investigators are still searching for the cause of the Halloween night fire on Emerson Avenue in Paterson that killed a family of five and left another seven people homeless.
Two families lived in the small, 1,300 square-foot Cape Cod style house at 15 Emerson Avenue, said Paterson Fire Chief Alex Alicea.
But there was only one way out of the apartment on the second floor, down a rear staircase where the fire broke out just before 10 p.m. Friday, he said.
“We believe the fire started in the rear on the first floor,” said Paterson Fire Chief Alex Alicea. “Whether it was inside or outside, we’re still looking into that.”
Trapped by flames and smoke, a family of five perished on the second floor. The Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office identified the adults as Raid Abuhadbeh, 39, his wife, Yesenia, 38. The names of the children, ages 14, 12, and 7, were withheld.
The victims are related to state Assemblyman Al Abdelaziz, (D-35th District) a Paterson resident who was up for reelection on Tuesday.
Late Monday, Abdelaziz posted on Facebook, thanking everyone for their emotional support and asking for their vote.
“These past few days have been incredibly difficult as I grieve the tragic loss of my cousin and his beautiful family while also navigating a consequential election for our state and country,” he wrote.
Alicea said that when firefighters attempted to enter the house, there was no front entrance to the second-floor apartment.
“It was compartmentalized into two,” Alicea said of the house, which was built in 1950 and is listed as a one-family on Zillow.
He said city records would determine whether the renovations dividing the house into two separate apartments were done legally.
The family that lived on the first floor escaped. The American Red Cross says it provided emergency shelter to seven people rousted by the fire. A GoFundMe campaign thus far has raised $22,000.
The house is located in Paterson’s Hillcrest section near the Totowa border.
Emerson Avenue cuts through Paterson’s Hillcrest section, a string of well-maintained single-family homes near the Totowa border. Hillcrest has long been one of Paterson’s most attractive neighborhoods.
One resident, Linda Damian, said she’s lived on Emerson Avenue since 1966. Damian said kids were still going door-to-door for trick or treat on Friday night when the fire trucks arrived.
“When I first saw the flames, I thought it was on the next block,” she recalled. “The kids were still trick or treating, and they were all screaming because they were scared.”
“It’s a very sad day and devastating for the families,” she said. “This is something you wouldn’t wish on anybody.”
Another neighbor, Kasey Alarcon-Borowic, said she looked out her window and saw the sirens flashing. She saw firefighters punching holes in the roof and trying to gain entry to the second floor.
“The only thing that would really let you know a tragedy was happening were the lights,” she said. “There was no screaming, no crowd gathered, or anything like that. It was eerily silent.”
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