Newark Restaurant Fire Leaves 30 People Homeless
NEWARK, N.J. (CBS 2) -- Residents of a Newark apartment building escaped with their lives and little else after a raging fire overnight.
A five-story apartment building was consumed by flames and residents had to flee onto icy fire escapes to get out alive.
The fire started inside the Happy Garden restaurant at 77 Lincoln Park, but the flames and heavy smoke quickly spread to the floors above, and to an adjacent building.
Residents were forced to scramble to safety, and firefighters to rescue many of them.
"It was my mother who was pretty much trapped, she has multiple sclerosis so she can't walk they had to get a ladder to get her off the fire escape, but other than that everybody else got out," said fire victim Derek Rue.
The Newark Fire Department said there were no injuries, but a 4-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl were taken to an area hospital for observation, Capt. John Brown said.
Thirty people in eight apartments were left homeless in the blaze.
