Crime & Safety

Early Morning Fire Displaces Multiple Residents

Homeowner and her tenants were able to escape after fire broke out while they were sleeping.

An early morning fire at a multi-family house in the South End has displaced a number of residents, including the homeowner who was sleeping when the fire broke out.

Daro Baijnath said she was awoken by her ex-husband, who lives in the basement of her home at 39 Irving Street, screaming her name at about 4 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Baijnath said she immediately smelled the smoke that had filled the two-and-a-half story house and got out with her cell phone to call 9-1-1. Two tenants in an upstairs apartment were also able to get out safely.

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Fire officials were not immediately available for comment.

Sitting in her car parked in front of her house around 8 a.m. shortly after fire crews left, Baijnath was still in shock. Windows were broken throughout the house and police tape was set up across the front yard.

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“You hear these things and you see things, and when it happens to you it’s so different,” she said.

She said she will be able to stay with her daughter, but was still not clear what the next steps would be to rebuild the home she has owned for 24 years. 

This is the second house fire in three days in Montclair. A fire that broke out on Monday night ravaged a home on Orange Road and sent a firefighter to the hospital.


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