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Fire Destroys Furniture Store in
Westwood
The Record
March 28, 1979
By Laurence Chollet and Michael Hoyt
A spectacular fire roared through a furniture
store in the center of Westwood yesterday, gutting the building and
consuming more than $500,000 worth of furniture.
Firemen did not know what caused the fire that
broke out at 8:30 a.m. at the Westwood Furniture Co. at Westwood Avenue
and Kinderkamack Road. Three firefighters suffered minor injuries as more
than 125 firemen from 12 towns fought the flames for six hours.
Fueled by foam rubber, mattresses, and wooden
furniture, the fire blanketed the downtown area known as Five Corners with
thick, black smoke, forcing crowds of spectators to shield their faces.
An assortment of couches, tables, bookcases,
bureaus, and chairs in the 15,000 square-foot showroom fed the flames like
leaves in an autumn bonfire. said Westwood Fire Chief Ed Doidge.
"When I arrived, the showroom windows were
popping out and the flames were reaching 15 feet out into the street,"
Doidge said. "There was every kind of smoke you could imagine - black,
orange, gray."
The flames shot through the roof and windows
of the showroom and spread to the furniture warehouse behind the store.
Firemen evacuated residents of four homes on either side of the building
for more than eight hours. The homes were not seriously damaged.
Flames from the store licked at electrical
wires just above the door at 306 Westwood Avenue, eventually severing a
special transformer, said Westwood Police Chief John Cafaro. Only power to
the store was affected, he said.
The store's owner, Frank Harris of New York
City, could not estimate the exact damage, but Cafaro put it,
conservatively, at more than a half a million dollars.
1955 Fire Recalled
"We had a fire at this store back in 1955, but
it was confined to the warehouse out back," the chief said. "It wasn't
anything like this one. There's nothing left."
Firemen John Murphy, 28, of Westwood and Jim
Halston, 23, of Montvale were treated for smoke inhalation at Pascack
Valley Hospital in Westwood and released. Emerson fireman Bill Wrinker,
24, was treated for a bruised right knee after being struck by a hose
coupling.
Fire companies from Hillsdale, Washington
Township, Emerson, Old Tappan, Montvale, New Milford, and River Vale
fought the blaze, while companies from Paramus, Oradell, Woodcliff Lake,
and River Edge were on standby. The Teaneck Fire Department provided a
field unit.
More than 25 trucks filled nearby streets with
lines of hoses and streams of water, and police diverted traffic down side
streets until 5:30 p.m. By that time the evacuated residents returned to
their homes.
"We suffered some blistering paint on one side
of the house and a few inches of water in the basement that leaked in
through a window," said Mrs. Harold Hotaling, the owner of 322 Westwood
Avenue. "And to think we just had the house fixed up last summer for my
son and his wife who live there. Now the outside looks like it needs a
paint job."
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