A massive weekend inferno apparently sparked by welding in a mattress factory ravaged part of a leafy commuter town in North Jersey — wreaking havoc as its police department lost power and schools were forced to shut down Monday.
“It was a perfect storm — we were staring into hell last night,’’ Belleville Mayor Michael Melham told The Post on Monday — as the “12- to 14-alarm’’ blaze in the Essex County town’s Valley section was finally contained but continued to burn just under 24 hours after it ignited.
“It’s an absolute miracle we had no deaths,’’ the mayor said.
The flames erupted around 3 p.m. Sunday in one of a string of closely connected buildings on Joralemon and Cortlandt streets in the town’s industrial section, Melham said…