Eight residents were displaced after a fire spread through two homes near Broad and Liberty streets in Trenton around 6 p.m. Thursday, according to NBC10 Philadelphia. One person was injured after escaping through a second-floor window, while another was hospitalized for smoke inhalation. Everyone living in the two homes got out alive.
Firefighters brought the blaze under control in just under an hour, according to NBC10 Philadelphia. Trenton Fire Chief Nicholas Migliacci said crews saw heavy smoke before discovering that the fire had spread through both structures, with extensive fire damage on the exteriors and throughout the interiors.
Escape and Injuries
The person who jumped from the second-floor window was injured in the fall while escaping the fire, NBC10 Philadelphia reported. Another person was treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation. Eight residents were displaced, but no one living in either home was killed.
Officials had not confirmed whether the smoke detectors inside the two homes were working at the time of the fire, and the cause of the blaze remains under investigation, per the same account.
Mayor Points to Citywide Uptick
Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora said an uptick in fires across the city serves as a reminder for families to prepare for emergencies before they happen, per a report from NBC10 Philadelphia. He advised residents to make sure their smoke detectors are working and to have an escape plan ready in case fire breaks out in their home.
New Jersey Fire Context
Statewide figures illustrate the risks behind local fire-safety warnings. According to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Division of Fire Safety, 81 civilians died in fires and 228 civilians were injured in New Jersey in 2014. For prevention, the advice offered in connection with the Trenton fire was to keep smoke detectors working and maintain a household escape plan.
The warning comes as Trenton grapples with a separate and far more devastating house fire that killed two young children, a 7-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy, according to ABC7 News. That three-alarm fire also injured at least two firefighters, and as with Thursday's fire, officials said it was unknown whether working smoke detectors were present when the flames broke out. The cause of that fire remains under investigation as well.
