New Square Firefighters struggled for hours last night to hold flames from a burning multifamily house in check without adequate water pressure and with a basement crammed with mattresses fueling the blaze.

No one was hurt, but at least two families with numerous children were left homeless.

“There was fire in the basement, first floor, second floor and the attic when we arrived,” said Hillcrest Fire Chief Tim Wren.

“It was tough to get the trucks in. There were cars parked along the road. We had problems with the water pressure. We made an immediate attempt to get in but didn’t get in very far. We pulled everybody out and used aerial streams” of water to fight the blaze.

Aron Kaff, the village’s public safety coordinator, said a resident passing by 21B Jefferson Ave. saw smoke coming from the three-story building and ran to a nearby synagogue to call for help. Police received the 911 notice about 5:45 p.m.

Kaff said he and about 30 other volunteers ran to the smoking building. While several men checked all the rooms twice to make sure they were empty, others alerted neighbors and kept spectators from getting in the way of emergency workers as they arrived.

Members of the families that lived in the residence were found several blocks away, and parents and children counted several times to make sure everyone was there.

The displaced families were staying with relatives in the village, Kaff said.

John Kryger, a deputy county fire coordinator, said Hillcrest firefighters arrived with their pumper and truck to find the building ablaze and the fire threatening to spread to the two buildings adjacent. The home on fire appeared to be two residences joined together, he said.

Spring Valley, New City, Monsey, Thiells and Nanuet fire companies were called, bringing the number of trucks at the fire to about a dozen. The 100 firefighters working on the blaze were kept from the interior by collapsing walls and a sagging roof. The fire was contained to the original building but wasn’t officially under control until after 10 p.m.

Rockland Paramedic Services, Spring Hill Ambulance and Chevra Hatzoloh of Rockland County also were on the scene.

Early in the evening, water pressure was so low that the firefighters linked three hydrants to get enough water to pour on the flames. Hoses were so lightly filled that they sank when people walked on them.

County Emergency Services Coordinator Gordon Wren Jr., who was also on the scene, said his office had complained to United Water for more than a year about the poor water pressure in New Square.

Hillcrest firefighter Brendan Burke, who was handling the water flow from the pumper truck, said he was frustrated by the low pressure.

“They need water to put out the fire and I can’t get it to them,” he said at one point.

Tim Wren said he tried calling United Water’s emergency number when pressure became a problem to ask for more pressure, but no one answered the phone. The county’s Emergency Services Department contacted the utility company about an hour later and got the pressure increased by 8:15 p.m., Tim Wren said.

By 9:30 p.m., the fire still was burning, and the back of the house had collapsed into the basement, Kryger said. Firefighters called for a backhoe to tear apart the debris in order to be able to put the fire out. The machine arrived about 10 p.m.

“Everything kind of pancake-collapsed into the basement, so we couldn’t reach the deep-seated part,” Tim Wren said. “They had a bunch of smaller-sized mattresses stored in the basement – I don’t know how many, but it was pretty full on that side. It was a large stockpile. It was still smoldering.”

Calling in a backhoe is not unusual when a building collapses and pockets of fire can’t be reached, Tim Wren said.

The machine is used to pull apart rubble so firefighters can douse whatever flames remain.

The cause of the blaze remained under investigation.

TJN