Massive fire rips through vacant school in Trenton, New Jersey
TRENTON, N.J. (CBS) -- A fire ripped through Trenton's former Junior High School No. 1 building Monday.
Crews are still on the scene. The historic building is more than 100 years old.
Neighbors were very concerned about the fire spreading to their homes.
Firefighters not only tried to put out the flames, but they worked to protect homes right near it.
"The flames were bad, it was so bad to the point that the windows were kind of exploding," a person said.
A silhouette of an abandoned school building is all you can see as smoke fills the area along Brunswick Avenue in Trenton.
Those who live right next to the fire say they did what they could to protect their homes before firefighters arrived.
Shantae Ford walked CBS News Philadelphia upstairs to show the damage done to the top part of her home after the flames spread.
"I am thankful. They had to do what they did to get the fire out because it could have been worse," Ford said. "Someone could have lost their life."
A few doors down, Shawn Smith said someone told him to get off the porch as the fire burned right behind his home.
"When I got off the porch, I went over here to the side and I saw the whole fire go up up in flames and then the roof caved," Smith said. "I thought the house was going burn down. The whole house burned down. I am blessed, that's all I can say."
Firefighters spent hours trying to control the fire. They were on ladders in the middle of the smoke and poured water on hotspots.
Those who were impacted say they are thankful for the help of emergency responders.
"I don't think you know what this is like until you are in a situation like this," Jeffery Thomas said. "You see it on the news all the time. It's very scary, we don't have anywhere else to go."
This was a long, tough fight for firefighters.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
