Firefighters in New York City and New Jersey endured a treacherous 24-hour stretch, as a series of intense, fast-moving infernos broke out one after another from Sunday, May 4 through Monday, May 5.
Emergency crews in the city and northern New Jersey were called into action again and again over a daylong period, facing dangerous conditions, large-scale responses and, in some cases, deadly outcomes.
Sunday, 3 p.m. — Cortland Street, Belleville, New Jersey (12–alarm)
A massive fire erupted at a commercial mattress warehouse on the 300 block of Cortland Street near Joralemon Street in Belleville’s Valley section, quickly escalating to 12 alarms.
With heavy smoke billowing and visible as far as the Meadowlands, crews battled the flames into the night, with firefighting operations continuing into Monday morning, according to the New Jersey Department of Transportation…