Irvington neighbors report people squatting inside vacant home that went up in flames, chief says

IRVINGTON, N.J. -- Fire officials say squatters were inside a vacant building when it caught fire early Monday in Irvington, New Jersey. 

Chopper 2 was over the fire when it was at its strongest around 6:30 a.m. on 22nd Street between 20th and Springfield avenues. Heavy flames could be seen on each floor of the three-story building, as smoke billowed into the cold November sky. 

The fire chief told CBS New York's John Dias it appears there were homeless people inside the building when the fire started. 

"They did some self-evacuating," Fire Chief Antonio Gray told Dias. "Neighbors saw them run. They also reported to the first company that arrived on scene, saying that they were inside the structure."

No one was injured, but three surrounding buildings were also damaged. 

"Our crews did a tremendous job extinguishing it. We had multiple localized collapses of the floors, ceiling, the roof. So we're having a hard time getting inside to do a complete primary and secondary search," Gray said.

Watch Chopper 2 over the scene

Felix Gonzalez lives next door and said he started to smell smoke when he first woke up.

"There was a cloud of smoke that came out of the house," he told Dias. 

As he was leaving for work, he saw how close the flames were to his house and alerted his entire apartment building. 

"I started to pretty much press the bells and notify everybody," he said. 

His wife called 911 and later told Dias she had déjà vu, because there was a fire inside their apartment building last year. 

"I was about to faint a little while ago, I was hyperventilating, I was petrified," said Diamond Gonzalez. "I was worried for my apartment, clearly, I was worried for any homeless people that are inside."  

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. 

In:
• Irvington
• Essex County