Officials are continuing to investigate a deadly fire in Union City, New Jersey.
It started Saturday afternoon in a vacant structure on Bergen Turnpike near 38th Street and quickly spread to adjoining buildings.Â
More than a day later, firefighters remained on scene to douse stubborn hotspots.
“There was just a bunch of smoke. It was like a whole cloud of smoke,” neighbor Ashley Mejia said.
A large fire broke out in Union City, New Jersey, near 38th Street and Bergen Turnpike on April 18, 2026.
Lesley Omar Reyes
“There were just the most monumental flames,” neighbor Ross Williams said. “A lot of us in our building, we were saying, do we need to evacuate? Are these fumes going to affect us? And luckily, it didn’t.”
Officials said a 74-year-old woman was killed in the fire. Her identity has not yet been released.
Neighbors said the woman was blind and would be seen in front of her home from time to time.
“God bless her family,” Williams said. “That’s horrible.”
Crews continued to douse hotspots at the scene of a deadly fire in Union City on Sunday.
CBS News New York
According to officials, 23 people were also displaced.
Some said work started on the vacant building just this past week.
“They were doing, like, some fixing over there the other day,” Mejia said. “And then this happens all of a sudden. That’s really weird.”
The Hudson County Regional Arson Task Force is investigating this fire, which is standard procedure.