5-alarm fire at Edgewater's Avalon apt. complex still smoldering; nearly 1,000 displaced [video]

January 22, 2015, 7:01 AM Last updated: Thursday, January 22, 2015, 11:40 PM

A massive fire that raged for hours on Wednesday night, reducing a luxury Edgewater apartment complex to a pile of charred rubble and leaving more than 500 homeless, started with a blowtorch that was being used to fix a leaking pipe, officials said on Thursday.

CHRIS PEDOTA/staff photographer

Police Chief William Skidmore said workers were using a torch while fixing a leak and doing plumbing repairs when the fire started.

Maintenance workers who were doing plumbing repairs in the 408-unit Avalon at Edgewater complex initially tried to tamp down the flames themselves on Wednesday afternoon, waiting 15 minutes before they called 911, officials said. Nearly 24 hours later, after what turned into a grueling night for hundreds of firefighters battling one of the largest blazes in Bergen County history, the destruction of the building where the fire began was nearly complete.

TARIQ ZEHAWI / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Smoke still rises from the apartment complex as firefighters from many departments continue to pour water onto the site.

TARIQ ZEHAWI / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Firefighters from many departments continue to pour water onto the fire site.

NBC New York

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5-alarm fire at Edgewater's Avalon apt. complex still smoldering; nearly 1,000 displaced