Courier News Reports on Red Cross Response to Plainfield Fire

Two injured escaping from Plainfield apartment fire
by  Walter O'Brien

PLAINFIELD --Two people were injured jumping to safety from a "suspicious" fire in a city apartment building, police said.

The fire forced others from their homes, police added.

The two residents leaped to safety at 1:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 1 from a second-floor window while four others made their way through the rear fire escape of a two-story building at 326 Plainfield Ave. at the corner of West Fourth Street, said Battalion Chief Henry Robinson of the Plainfield Fire Division.

"When the fire department arrived, the stairwell leading to the second floor was totally engulfed in flames," Robinson said. "The firefighters continued to fight the fire while the rescue squad took the two who jumped out of the window to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick."

Robinson said the jumpers' conditions are not known and names have not been released pending a full investigation.

"The fire is being investigated as suspicious," Plainfield Public Safety Director Martin Hellwig said.

Tri-County Red Cross Executive Director Nathan Rudy confirmed that his agency sheltered two families, both of whom may be able to return to their homes soon once approved by the fire department.

"Our volunteer Terri Esposito was called to the scene at 3 a.m. and arranged hotel rooms for the families," Rudy said. "She checked with them Saturday afternoon and said they were doing fine."

Robinson said that his department was assisted by the Union County Mutual Aid Coordinator, and the Westfield and South Plainfield fire departments.

The Tri-County Red Cross spends more than $100,000 each year providing emergency relief to families who lose their homes to fire, flood or other disasters.  You can support this work by contributing using the form to the right, or by mailing a tax deductible contribution to Tri-County Red Cross, 332 West Front Street, Plainfield, NJ 07060.