NJ blaze heartbreak
A 2-year-old boy died when an inferno raced through a New Jersey building early Saturday — despite the desperate efforts of his father whose “back was on fire” as he tried to save his son, officials and witnesses said.
The fire started at around 1 a.m. on the second floor of a threestory building on Summit Avenue near 14th Street in Union City, and high winds spread flames to nearby structures, including a church which was gutted, according to Fire Chief Frank Montagne, of North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue.
“There was a man on fire, his back was on fire,” said Daniel Peek, who saw Eddie Gonzalez’s frantic bid to rescue his trapped son. “He was trying to get the fire escape to come down so he could go in. He was burning.” And yet he refused to give up. “The father kept trying to get back in to find his son. It was terrible,” another witness said. “We had to grab him and stop him from going in. He was burned already. We just couldn’t let him go,” he said.
Eddie Gonzalez Jr. could not bee saved, and his father is now in critical condition at St. Barnabas Burn Center, the dad’s sister, Karina Gonzalez, told The Post.
Karina said her brother did not know the boy, nicknamed “Machito,” was dead as of Saturday afternoon, and the family had been in- structed not to tell him.
“It’s devastating. It’s hard to keep our composure around the kids,” Karina said.
The boy’s mother, Aaliyah Mercado, 21, was too distraught to speak. The couple also has two daughters, Eliyhana, 3, and Angenie, 5 months, Karina said.
The fire spread to neighboring Sts. Joseph and Michael at Central Avenue and 14th Street, toppling its steeple.
“You had freezing conditions, winds 20 to 30 mph, [which] created flying brand embers, that caught the steeple of a church a block away,” Montagne said. “That building got fully involved. Fire took hold of the church and got into roof of the structure.”
Witnesses described a chaotic scene.
“The fire was blowing and burning debris was falling to the ground,” Peek said. “A car exploded in front of the church . . . the power lines came down, the transformer exploded. It was crazy.”
The fire in the Summit Avenue building was extinguished at around 7 a.m., but firefighters continued to battle the flames at the church Saturday afternoon, Montagne said. Multiple firefighters were injured from slip and falls on the ice and fire building.
Montagne did not know the cause of the blaze.
NJ Red Cross provided temporary shelter for up to 80 people who were either evacuated or displaced by the fire.
The father kept trying to get back in . . . He was burned already. — A witness on Eddie Gonzalez’s bravery