3 killed in 2-alarm apartment fire in Hillsborough

HILLSBOROUGH - Three people were killed in an overnight apartment fire, the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office confirmed Tuesday morning.

The two-alarm fire damaged at least four apartments in one building at the Hillsborough Garden Apartments on Farm Road on Monday night. Jack Bennett, a spokesman for the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office, confirmed the fatalities.

The names of those who died are not being released until their families have been notified. An investigation into the fire is continuing on Tuesday afternoon.

The fire was reported just before 10 p.m. and appears to have started in a bedroom in a second-floor apartment before spreading to the roof.

"I talked to some people who lived in the building and they said they smelled something," said John Catlin, who lives in the building located across from the fire. "I think it was an electrical fire. I heard a small explosion and when I came out I saw flames. It happened real fast.

"I was watching the sidings of the building melt down. The fire was real intense. The flames were just shooting out."

Cira Palmera, who also lived across from the fire, said her 10-year-old daughter spotted the fire and alerted her.

"We saw the flames inside the building and then there was an explosion and the widows blew out," she said. "We heard it started in the bedroom. The police told us we might have to evacuate because it was so windy and fire ashes may blow and catch our building on fire."

While the fire was brought under control just before 11 p.m., firefighters working from a ladder truck were continuing to extinguish hot spots on the roof as of 11:15 p.m.

A number of fire engines, ladder trucks and ambulances from at least two township fire departments, as well as from surrounding communities, were at the scene, lining Farm Road and the apartment building's parking lot.

Residents and neighbors watched on as firefighters battled the fire. The corner of the second floor of the building had black scorch marks and much of the roof above had collapsed. Onlookers said flames from the fast-moving fire could be seen coming from the roof.

"There were big flames," said Aryan Shah, who lived in the building behind the fire. "I saw the roof come down."

Most of the visible fire was extinguished within a few minutes, but the fire continued to burn inside walls and the roof for more than an hour. Loud fire alarms outside the building continued to go off until PSE&G cut power to the building just after 11 p.m.

One resident of the apartment building, who declined to identify herself, said she became aware of the fire when she heard the building's alarms going off. She said she could see smoke billowing from the roof. She said she was trying to find friends to stay with overnight.

Most of the firefighters left the scene just after 1 a.m., but township police and investigators remained, and were still there early Tuesday morning, joined by the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office.

http://www.nj.com/somerset/index.ssf/2016/10/3_killed_in_2-alarm_apartment_fire_in_hillsborough.html