Roselle mayor, neighbors save elderly man from fire

ROSELLE – With the help of their mayor, neighbors saved a hearing-impaired elderly man from a two-alarm fire Wednesday morning at a condo in the Brooklawn Avenue Condominiums.

Roselle Mayor Donald Shaw said he was awoken around 5:03 a.m. by the yells of “Fire, Fire!” and “Help, Help!” from a woman who had been walking her dog. Shaw ran out in pajamas and saw smoke rising from the building and called the fire department while joining his neighbors in banging on doors and evacuating them from the condominiums, according to authorities.

“Everyone kept saying, `Where’s Joe? Where’s Joe?’ and no one knew where he was,” Shaw said. "I raced to his front door and we all tried to kick it down.”

No one could get through the heavy door, so the mayor ran to his home and found a metal tool and was able to pry the door open with the help of his neighbors, who then pulled Joe out of the condo, authroties said, and Joe only suffered minor smoke inhalation.

“My neighbors are absolutely heroes,” Shaw said. “When something like this happens, you don’t even think about it. You work together. All we could think about was saving Joe.”

Borough firefighters arrived around 5:06 a.m. and put out the fire by 5:45 a.m., limiting the damage to one apartment, 521 Brooklawn Ave., H-1, where it had originated. Unfortunately, one pet cat died in the blaze, Roselle Fire Chief Eric Pearson said.

The fire started in the first-floor bedroom, the cause is under investigation, but it is suspected that a spark from a laptop charger caused the room to be engulfed in flames and smoke, according to authorities.

Other residents returned to their units.

“When we arrived on the scene, the condo units were all evacuated with the help of the mayor,” Pearson said. "We were very lucky he was there.”

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Roselle NJ fire: mayor, neighbors save elderly man from condo blaze