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Firefighters in Belleville are still putting down flames from a massive fire that started within a mattress factory and quickly spread to neighboring businesses within the building on Sunday.
Over 24 hours after that fire started on Sunday, smoke from the warehouse is still blanketing the Belleville neighborhood along Joralemon Street, and water is still being pumped into the building.
Belleville township officials are investigating the possibility that is was caused by someone welding while repairs were being made to the roof on Sunday.
Firefighters will be getting help from a demolition crew that’ll be tearing apart some of the building so that hoses can reach those hotspots deep inside.
The fire destroyed several businesses, including the Legacy Boxing Club, owned by Yessenia Montalvo who moved the gym from Wayne one year ago.
Now she’s lost it all.
“Completely gone, we had two rings in there we had 24 bags we had everything the kids needed to train," said Montalvo.
Montalvo was working on Sunday and says she was told that welding work at the mattress warehouse may have started the fire.
"We heard commotion next door, construction, and I know the landlord had said they were putting an extra beam on the roof next door ," said Montalvo.
The Legacy Boxing Club serves close to 100 kids from the area. Since Montalvo can’t train at her gym, she’s told all of her students to meet her at Belleville Park tonight for a workout.
It wasn’t just businesses that suffered a loss. The intense wind sent hot embers to Stephens Street, destroying a four-family home.
Jessica Barkley and her son lived on the second floor. They were hurrying on Monday to retreive a few more belongings.
“Everything is melted, there’s’ debris everywhere everything is black or wet there’s nothing.
“It’s insane, but you know everything is so close together, the mattress factory a lumber yard, it’s the most flammable corner to live on I had no idea up until this point.”
In some areas, flames that consumed the warehouse are gone and the building is leveled, but even those area are still sending up mass amounts of smoke, causing some to evacuate their homes Monday.


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