A family in River Edge, in New Jersey's Bergen County, lost everything when a fire tore through their home during Saturday night's storm. The house, on Midland Avenue, was left reduced to rubble, and cleanup was still underway days later as the neighborhood tried to recover from the weekend's severe weather.
In the aftermath, police tape surrounded the property, with downed trees, power lines and other debris scattered across the road. It took crews hours to bring the flames under control, and the scene remained active into the following night as work to secure the area continued.
Firefighters said the response was complicated by a fallen tree that brought down a utility pole, sending live wires into the street. The downed lines added a serious hazard for the crews trying to battle the blaze in the middle of the storm, forcing them to work carefully around the electrical danger.
Neighbors described a fire that kept flaring back to life. Every time the fire department managed to knock the flames down to nothing, they said, the blaze would suddenly reignite, forcing crews to chase repeated hot spots as they struggled to fully extinguish it.
Despite the destruction, the residents who were inside the home at the time managed to get out safely. Two firefighters were taken to the hospital during the lengthy response and were later released, according to authorities.
The River Edge blaze was one of many storm-related emergencies across the region over the holiday weekend, as powerful thunderstorms brought down trees and power lines and left thousands of homes and businesses without electricity across New Jersey.