On his Facebook page, Carteret Mayor Dan Reiman said residents could make donations to the displaced families through the town's charity trust fund.
CARTERET -- An early morning fire destroyed two homes on Longfellow Street and displaced three families, according to officials.
The two homes were located on Longfellow near Irving Street and both were a total loss, according to Fire Chief Mark Hruska.
He said that the fire began in a two-family home, where seven people made it out safely, and then spread to a single-family home next door, where 13 people escaped.
Hruska couldn't speculate on the case of the fire and said it is under investigation.
Please avoid the Longfellow area. Were are currently operating at a 3rd alarm structure fire.
Posted by Carteret Fire Department & EMS Division on Saturday, October 17, 2015
"It was quite a chaotic scene with a fire load that was extremely heavy," Hruska said. "We were unable to reenter the structure because of the heavy structural damage to both buildings."
He said the fire was reported at 4:51 a.m. and was upgraded to three alarms within 10 minutes.
The fire was brought under control at around 9 a.m. and at least 10 other area fire departments provided mutual aid to help fight the blaze, according to Hruska.
He said one firefighter suffered a minor injury to his arm.
Carteret [NJ] 3rd Alarm Structure Fire. One Photo from this Morning at 5 a.m.
Posted by Emergency Photography By: Alex Mak on Saturday, October 17, 2015
On his Facebook page, Carteret Mayor Dan Reiman offered that residents could make donations to the displaced families through the town's charity trust fund.
Early this morning there was a two house structural fire on Longfellow Street which displaced three families. The...
Posted by Dan Reiman on Saturday, October 17, 2015
Jessica Remo may be reached at jremo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessicaRemoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.