Hundreds displaced in New Jersey apartment building fire; ruled accidental

EDGEWATER, N.J. (WABC) --

"I don't think we've got much more time in here," said a firefighter over radio transmission.

For the first time, Eyewitness News has obtained the desperate radio transmissions as firefighters rushed to evacuate the Avalon at Edgewater.

They used a ladder to bash in apartment windows in a last ditch attempt to vent the building. And then, there was the blaring of air horns. The universal sign it's time for even the rescuers to run for safety.

Minutes later, the inferno would be ravaging nearly the entire complex, which then disintegrated piece by burning piece.

"Being homeless in a couple of hours, it's horrible. You can't imagine. You left everything inside and you don't know what's going to happen," said Uzeyir Karabiyik, a resident.

The images are seared on the minds of Uzeyir Karabiyik and his family. And they are the lucky ones. They still have a home in the so-called River building. It was the only part of the complex to emerge intact.

"We have started the process of allowing people to get their lives back together and turning towards normalcy as to what we can call normal," an official said during a press conference.

This is not normal.

Two neighbors from Scranton, Pennsylvania had their trucks stuffed with donations from friends and drove 120 miles there to drop it off.

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Hundreds displaced in New Jersey apartment building fire; ruled accidental