Firefighters Battling Three Alarm Blaze on Somerset Street

Firefighters battled a fire that spread to three houses on Somerset Street late Friday afternoon.

New Brunswick Fire director Robert Rawls said an alarm came in around 4 p.m. for 270 Somerset St., and progressed to a three alarm fire, spreading to 268 Somerset St. and 272 Somerset St.

Around 5 p.m., New Brunswick firefighters were still working to extinguish the flames, aided by companies from Edison and East Brunswick.

Officials from the Middlesex County Fire Marshall's office and and county Department of Emergency Management were also on-scene.

Rawls said that no injuries had been reported at that time, nor was anyone trapped in the houses.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, he said.

A large crowd gathered on Somerset Street to watch the fire, and around 5:15 p.m. the blaze started to smoulder, filling the street with thick white smoke and causing New Brunswick Police and Fire authorities to order the crowd to move back one block.

Around 5:15 p.m., Somerset Street was still closed to through traffic in the area of Louis Street.