Several people are recovering after being pulled from a burning home in New Jersey.
A family, including 5 children, were rescued after a fire broke out in East Orange on Saturday night.
The fire started around 7:47 p.m. at 116 Hollywood Avenue. Upon arrival, flames were quickly spreading to the second floor to the third floor of the home. Crews then discovered an adult with second to third degree burns near the front door. Shortly after, they found five children, and two other adults trapped inside.
Together, nearly 35 firefighters from seven companies battled the blaze for several hours before it was completely put out.
The children were transported to a hospital to be checked out. Their ages have not yet been released.
Firefighters faced challenges with the cold weather, and were slipping and falling.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, but does not appear to be suspicious. East Orange Deputy Fire Chief Christopher Weiss says there were no working smoke detectors in the building. He is urging anyone in East Orange to give the fire department a call if they currently do not have working smoke detectors.
Curt Isakson is a 35 year veteran of the fire service. Curt is currently a Battalion Chief for Escambia County Fire Rescue. Previously worked 9 years with the Pensacola Fire Department where he was assigned as the Company Officer on Rescue 31. Curt’s fire service experiences started at a young age as a Junior firefighter with the Midway Fire Protection District and rose through the ranks to Captain. He has worked in volunteer, career, and combination departments.
Curt has held all ranks up to Battalion Chief and been assigned to operations, training, inspections, and was Chief of Special Operations for 7 years. Curt owns and operates County Fire Tactics that covers a very diverse range of fire service topics, as well as Firefighter Rescues, a site that documents rescues made by firefighters around the country.
He has annual contracts with numerous departments to provide standardized monthly training for these departments that respond daily together under an automatic aid agreement. Curt teaches nationally to include; FDIC, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Orlando Fire Conference, Atlanta Fire Conference, Bowling Green State University, and owns/operates the annual HROC, COBC, WOTF, CFT ODP on Pensacola Beach. He is a Florida Certified Fire Officer, Instructor, Inspector, Arson, and FLUSAR.
