Firefighters responded to the scene just before midnight on Friday for reports of a fire at an unoccupied residential building on Seymour Avenue.
Officials say the three-alarm fire later spread to two occupied, multifamily homes adjacent to the building.
"I was so scared. I came down the stairs and literally right by my windows, next to the abandoned house, I'm seeing the flames hit the windows as I'm coming down the stairs," said one woman impacted by the fire. "I lost everything, but as long as I'm OK and my son is OK, then that's everything."
Four firefighters were injured as a result of a partial building collapse during the incident. They were all transported to University Hospital for treatment and are reportedly in stable condition.
Authorities say the fire was put under control around 2:45 a.m. on Saturday.
Alhassane Cisse went into his family's home of more than a decade in the morning, walking out with a single burned suitcase. Cisse says it was the only thing salvageable among piles of burnt debris.
"You know, you building something, one day like that to see everything is destroyed in front of you, it's very sad," Cisse said.
According to Newark Fire Chief Dell Ortiz, 14 families are now displaced because of the fire. Earlier on Saturday, the American Red Cross told Eyewitness News that the nonprofit was assisting at least 34 people.
Varum Malik, the property manager of the home that caught on fire, says the building had been vacant for years. He says they were in the process of getting permits approved in order renovate and were planning to start the work soon, and doesn't understand how the fire started.
Officials say the buildings will need to be demolished.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the Newark Department of Public Safety's Arson Unit.
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