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In the early hours of Thursday, April 3, 2025, a devastating fire broke out in North Bergen, New Jersey, claiming the lives of two people and displacing seventeen others. The blaze was reported around 1:30 AM on the 10th floor of the Cullum Apartments, a 16-story, 300-unit building on Grand Avenue. When firefighters arrived, they saw flames blowing out of the windows. Sadly, after entering the apartment, they discovered an 88-year-old man and a 77-year-old woman had tragically lost their lives.
It took firefighters at least an hour to get the fire under control. Although the flames were mostly contained in a single unit, the residents from seventeen apartments were displaced until further notice. In addition to the two fatalities, a third person was hospitalized and is reported to be in stable condition, and two police officers suffered smoke inhalation injuries and are in stable condition. The fire remains under investigation by the authorities.
This high-rise building in Hudson County serves as public housing for seniors and people with disabilities. It’s managed by the North Bergen Housing Authority, which has previously dealt with the death of a 71-year-old occupant back in 2002.
What Caused the Fire at Cullum Apartments?
The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office and the County Medical Examiner’s Office are expected to investigate the fire. Although there is no indication that arson played a role in the cause and origin, the county prosecutor’s office investigates fatal fires to determine whether or not arson was the cause.
If arson is ruled out, fire officials will continue their investigation to determine the exact cause and origin of the fire. Fires can start in many ways, smoking in bed, unattended candles, overloaded electrical circuits, Christmas tree fires, and kitchen appliance fires.
Although the prosecutor’s office will investigate a fire for criminal conduct, a civil trial attorney is needed to discover how the fire started and if it could have been avoided. Experienced civil trial attorneys such as Partners Marc. C. Saperstein Esq., and Samuel L. Davis Esq., of New Jersey’s injury law firm Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C. investigate and prove how the fire started, and how it could have been avoided. For that reason, they recommend burn survivors and their families seek a law firm experienced in fire loss and death claims as soon as possible to hold the negligent parties responsible.
Was The Building’s Fire Detection System Up to Code?
Since fires can cause loss of property and life, buildings are required to be constructed with safety systems and features, including fire sprinklers in apartments and common areas. By code, they must have a fire detection system that alerts occupants and the fire department of a fire. Apartments have sophisticated gas detection systems that are monitored in accordance with NFPA 72 of the 2021 International Building Code of New Jersey. Buildings of this nature are designed to serve the senior and disabled communities. They benefit from code requirements, fire containment doors, multiple exit systems, handicapped ramps, and advanced warning systems. But what happens if one of these systems fails?
Tenants have the right to know that proper fire prevention systems, including smoke detectors, are installed within their apartment complex’s common areas and units. More importantly, they should be assured that apartment building managers were not negligent in performing their legal obligations by regularly inspecting apartments and common areas and testing fire advance warning systems in place.
Who Is Liable if the Building Is Not Up to Code?
Since apartment fires are foreseeable, if any safety code requirements are intentionally or unintentionally ignored, the management may be subject to be sued in civil lawsuits alleging negligence for injury due to fire, which can include burn injuries, smoke inhalation, and tragic death.
To prove that an owner of an apartment building is negligent for fire-related injuries or wrongful death, survivors or families of the deceased must win a lawsuit where it’s determined that management had breached a duty to keep tenants safe and, as a result, someone suffered damages.
So, even if the tenant caused or contributed to a fire, the building management and owners have a duty to make sure fire safety and deterrent systems are in place and working.
Failure to do so will subject the building owners, operators, and building management to being sued, which can be quite complicated.
How Can a Civil Trial Attorney Help?
Lawyers who sue apartment owners and managers for monetary damages are known as civil trial attorneys. But still, these personal injury lawyers may not have experience winning a lawsuit on behalf of a fire victim or their grieving relatives.
To prove negligence, an experienced fire injury lawyer must first ascertain the “cause and origin” of the fire, which usually requires a law firm to hire cause and origin experts. These experts are often retired fire or building code officials who conduct their own inspections. They can find out if a defectively manufactured heater, wire, or appliance caused the fire, or if building operators neglected to maintain fire safety systems that contributed damage. In that case, the product manufacturer and the building owner, management company, or housing authority could be sued for negligence of failing to provide necessary safety features and devices designed to save lives, and a product liability lawsuit.
About Our New Jersey Fire Injury Attorneys
Marc C. Saperstein, a lawyer certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney and past president of a New Jersey trial lawyers association, has handled several cases in his career, winning millions of dollars on the part of badly scarred children and people who died by fire. As an expert in burn and explosion litigation in New Jersey and New York, he’s worked with expert witnesses and public officials to prove landlords’ and apartment owners’ negligence. He has handled complex cases including a structured settlement for $28,000,000 on behalf of two badly burned young boys after a fire started when an over was used to provide heat during a cold winter because the slumlord failed to provide heat. Other cases involved trials or settlements for gas tank explosions, industrial fires, and fires from Christmas tree lights.
As a founding partner of Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., a personal injury law firm with offices in New Jersey and New York, Marc C. Saperstein has worked hand in hand with Samuel L. Davis, also a lawyer who is an expert in fire and burn litigation. Attorney Samuel L. Davis and his team of lawyers also resolved a case involving an electrician who suffered severe electrical burns while on the job, winning an out-of-court settlement with a present value of $28,000,000 in a civil lawsuit suing a building owner for personal injury. They and their fire investigation team are on call 24/7 to provide free legal advice and consultation and can be reached at 201-907-5000 or 1-800-LAW-2000.
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Since 1981, the compassionate personal injury lawyers at Davis, Saperstein & Salomon have been delivering results for our deserving clients. We are solely committed to helping injured individuals, never representing corporations. No matter how large or small your personal injury case is, you can trust that it is important to us.
