Five-Alarm Fire Tears Through Six Scotch Plains Townhomes

SCOTCH PLAINS, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Several homes in a Scotch Plains condo complex have been damaged or destroyed in an early morning blaze.

Rosanne Menzion tells 1010 WINS' Steve Sandberg she was cooking breakfast in her Yarmouth Court home when she smelled smoke and heard alarms sounding from the upstairs floor.

"I saw fire coming out by my bed and my end tables," Menzion said. "I left everything in there, all my pictures of my husband-- my husband died 21 years ago. All my memories are gone. My whole life, it's all gone."

1010 WINS' Steve Sandberg reports: Fire Officials Say Homeowner Is Lucky To Be Alive

The five-alarm blaze broke out around 7:15 a.m. Wednesday and quickly spread through the roof, travelling along a common cockloft and damaging five other adjacent townhomes.

Menzion's granddaughter, who lived in one of the damaged townhomes, said she tried to salvage whatever possessions she could in her home by throwing them out the window.

"Next second I know, I look back and you just see smoke," Camille said.

It took nearly 100 firefighters from 15 towns to put out the blaze believed to have been sparked by a heating pad on Menzion's bed, Fire Captain Bryan Mecca said.

"She's very lucky the fire didn't start while she was in bed, that she was outside of the room and that she was able to get out safely," Mecca said.

No injuries have been reported.