Fire Breaks Out in Forest Street Apartment Building

A fire erupted in a two-story Forest Street apartment building shortly before sunset Sunday, displacing more than a dozen tenants for the night. 

Eye witnesses said flames as high as 15 feet could be seen rising from the rear of a second-story apartment window around 7 p.m. and grey smoke could be seen billowing into the air from Bloomfield Avenue from the building at 15 Forest St. 

No injuries were reported.

“Flames were on both sides of the building,” said tenant Nikki Abdulai, who recently moved into the apartment building.  

Abdulai said she was in her first-story apartment when the fire began. She said she smelled smoke and then the fire alarm went off. That’s when she and other tenants ran outside and saw the fire in the rear of the building. 

More than a dozen emergency vehicles — including at least seven fire engines — responded to the scene from Montclair, Cedar Grove and Clifton. A ladder from a fire engine was extended to the apartment building’s roof. Firemen could be seen walking on the roof inspecting the rear of the building with flashlights.  

The building is located on a small suburban street near the center of Montclair’s business district. It is located across from high-rise apartment buildings, and next to an automotive business and residential homes.  

Jefferson Newman, who has been living in the building for more than a decade, said he ran to the rear apartment with a fire extinguisher to try and help when he heard about the fire. He used the fire extinguisher on embers in the stairway, but he said it was smoky, dark and too hard to breath to remain there. 

“It was pretty freaky,” said Newman. 

Both Addulai and Jefferson reported seeing a tenant carrying a television on fire outside of the building. 

Montclair Police could not be reached for comment on Sunday night, but told tenants the building was uninhabitable for the evening.