A five-alarm blaze broke out around 4:30 p.m. at the Avalon apartments at 102 Russell Ave in Edgewater, NJ yesterday and by 9 p.m. the four-story building began to collapse. Amazingly, no one was seriously hurt but 1,000 residents have been displaced. Police Chief William Skidmore said some people had fallen and suffered minor injuries during the evacuation, and a firefighter had cut a finger. New York Yankees announcer John Sterling is among those, having reportedly lost all of his personal belongings.
The video is stunning.
Sterling said he encountered a heavy amount of smoke on his side of the building at 102 Russell Ave., and that it was so thick that it was difficult to see what was in front of him. He said his first instinct was to leave the building before the fire completely engulfed the area near his apartment.
Sterling, who spent the night in a hotel, said he will attempt to return to the building today to see if anything is salvageable — but he feared that will not be the case.
“I think I’ve lost everything, but those things can be replaced,” Sterling said.
Amazingly enough - the complex also burned to the ground in 2000 as it was being constructed.
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