Firefighters responded to the Evergreen Court Home for Adults on Lafayette Street in Spring Valley in the early hours of Tuesday morning, according to a post on the Rockland Fires Facebook page.
Eyewitness Mark Kennedy told Newsweek that he was passing by the area at around 1.30 a.m. when he saw the raging fire. The blaze “blasted” the building and it caved in, he said.
He said there was a large first responder presence on the scene and authorities have been working to evacuate people from inside the facility.
“It’s a nursing home so the chances that someone was trapped there is very high,” he added.
It was reported that several people, including nursing home patients and a firefighter, were trapped in the Evergreen Court assisted living facility at 65 Lafayette Street in Spring Valley, New York, when the building went down. Insider has not been able to independently confirm this.
The home is listed online as a senior care and assisted living facility with room for up to 200 residents.
Another eyewitness, A. Mordechai from Rockland County, said that the fire started “minutes after 1 am.” However, by around 3.30 am, most people in the area were evacuated.
“The chaos and the blaze sound much better than before,” Mordechai said.
An ABC news report said that a portion of the assisted care facility fell through as firefighters were battling the flames, trapping one firefighter inside. He has since been accounted for and is being treated, along with other residents rescued from the home.
According to media outlet Belaaz, the New York City Fire Department, along with helicopter assistance, has been called to help fight the blaze. Firefighters from as far away as North Jersey have also been called to the scene.
