Elizabeth fire displaces 2 families, causes major damage

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Two families were displaced and a doctor’s office was damaged after a Sunday morning fire in Elizabeth. The three-alarm fire brought in teams from nearby towns. No one was injured, but the smoke from the fire choked East Jersey Street for two hours. “You couldn’t see maybe five feet away from you,” said Dennis Rodriguez, who works at a nearby church. “It was just very toxic. People were coughing and tearing up.” One pet, a cat, was also rescued. Fire officials said it is doing well. Within hours, signage was placed on the doctor’s office door indicating that the structure is unsafe. Fire crews responded within two minutes of the 911 call, which came from a nearby church. “Our job is basically to take care of the parking lot and the church,” Rodriguez said. “One of the guys noticed there was smoke coming out of the first floor roof. They asked us, ‘What’s going on?’ We tried to yell at them, ‘There’s a fire going on!’” The Red Cross was assisting the impacted families as of Sunday night. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. "