More Than Two Dozen Displaced After Intense Flames Rip Through Blackwood Apartment Complex
Crews say the fire started in the first building of the complex, near Elaine Avenue. It quickly reached three-alarms.
Cellphone video from an eyewitness shows large flames coming from the roof of the apartment.
Officials say the entire building was affected either by smoke fire or water. About three feet of water is on the first floor of the three-story building.
“The first arriving engine made an aggressive interior attack but we pulled out to maintain firefighter integrity and safety. We decided to put the mass of streams into operation,” Blackwood Fire Company Chief Joseph Cipriano said. “Accountability for all the residents was done, everybody got out safe.”
A portion of Black Horse Pike was closed as crews fought the flames. It has since reopened.
The Black Horse Pike remains CLOSED this morning for an apartment building fire in #Blackwood that is now under control. It’s closed for a mile stretch in both directions from Lakeland Rd to Church St. Take RT-42. @CBSPhilly pic.twitter.com/t469DAe2Q1
— Chandler Lutz (@ChandlerCBS3) January 21, 2020
No residents were injured. Two Gloucester Township Police Officers were treated for smoke inhalation at Jefferson Hospital in Stratford and released.
The Red Cross is assisting 29 residents displaced by the fire.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.