a raging fire here moving too quickly for everyone inside to escape safely. killing one resident and injurying several others. you see the stairwell, they believe that's where the fire started. they deem this now suspicious because of where it started. the body of michael floyd was found in a third floor apartment. eyewitnesses meanwhile describe a dramatic scene with residents hanging out the top ledge screaming for help. several residents had to be rescued from the roof of the building with firefighters pulling them out of harm's way using ladders and cherry pickers. there's significant damage to this brown stone on jefferson avenue. this fire started around 2:30 this afternoon. we spoke with a neighbor who knows the victim who did not make it out alive. she says he lived here with his brother. that brother she says was trying to get inside to save

were just too much. >> his brother didn't make it. there's nothing there. >> what's that like seeing him? >> his brother is just in shock. when they told him, your brother burned. >> reporter: i saw a guy on the ledge telling everybody to get out the house, get out the house. as soon as he said that, freaking black smoke just came out the window and covered up the whole block. and right at that time, that's when the fire department pulled up and i of there. >> reporter: now several other residents were also injured but we're being told they were all treated here on scene. one firefighter suffered minor injuries and smoke inhalation. he was taken to king county hospital. the fire is still under investigation. but because of where this fire started it's unusual for a fire to start in a stairwell. reporting live.

for what caused a major fire at a historic church in new jersey. that fire ripping through the building. the building was a landmark. >> really all that's left is the shell of st. marks and of course its congregation helping that what's left of the building will not have to be torn down. fire fighters from south orange, orange, east orange, maplewood joined crews to tackle this massive blaze that took just minutes to light up st. marks. >> it's going to progress very fast. a lot of timbers. >> reporter: the congregation had celebrated new year's eve there just four hours earlier. a minister saying there were no

>> no, we don't use candles. we're from a pentecostal candles. >> the first thing you see when you get off 280 and you come to west orange is the church. >> there actually is a former pastor buried in the basement of the church underneath the altar and he's still there today. >> reporter: the owners, the international federation of chaplains is looking to engineers to see if what's left of st. marks can be saved. >> they've been very supportive and actually just walking us through this process because it's overwhelming for us being that we've never dealt with something of this magnitude. >> it may tame some time to determine the cause. for this congregation the fact

was killed is a blessing. raging fire. police say there was a fight during the altercation someone gas pump. police are investigating how many people were involved. they are also looking at bullet casings found across the street from a gas station to determine if they are connected. investigators have found a car that may be linked to the shooting that injured reserve ford anthony. it's believed it is the same car or that same car returned a day later when a molotov cocktail was thrown from outside of that car. the bomb did not cause any damages. the stolen iphone has also been found discarded in brooklyn. an elevator nightmare, a 25- year-old man killed while attending a new year's eve

he was with his friends inside an elevator on a building on broom street when it got stuck. what he did before he died may have saved a woman's life. eyewitness news reporter tim fleisher outside a building. >> stephen hewitt brown at just 25 years old had his whole life ahead of him. and taking his friend says much too early. >> that was a great brother, i love him and may his soul rest in peace. >> he came to this apartment building with friends to attend a party. but police say he and others became stuck on the third floor in the middle of three elevators. hewitt brown was trying to leave the elevator when it suddenly began moving but not before pushing sanchez and a child away from the elevator before it dropped pinning hewitt brown. >> as the elevator was falling i got out. i had time. the man helped me get out. he held the door like this to give me time to exit and that's when it fell.

>> reporter: romeni says he too is now learning about his friend's heroic actions. >> i think that shows his character. >> reporter: zion halcomb just like other residents are left stunned. but others say they've made numerous complaints about the elevators. >> it jumps. it jumps like it goes up and then goes down. >> the elevators were a problem and that they needed to be fixed. >> everybody right now is jumping, making phone calls. you know, let's find out what's going on. >> reporter: eyewitness news is learning from city records that there are three active buildings department violations on the elevators. buildings inspectors are now investigating. reporting from the lower east

natalie cole the daughter of nat king cole has died at the age of 65. many remember how cole used video technology to sing unforgettable and when i fall in love with her late father. the marquee at the apollo theater has been changed to honor her. we set up a slide show with highlights from cole's life on her website. you can also see how other celebrities are paying tribute. and funeral services are planned for tomorrow on long island for a national guards men killed in a taliban attack in afghanistan last week. wake services were held today in miller place for 31-year-old staff sergeant louis benocasa. he was one of several soldiers killed in a taliban attack.

will be held saturday morning. big buzz around a new year's day surprise in one neighborhood in new jersey. a bear chilling out in a tree. just sitting up there. the bear made itself at home. the street in summit and we've seen curious people coming all day to check it out. eyewitness news reporter darla miles with more on the bear watch there, darla. >> david, let's make no mistake here. this is grown bear. it weighs an estimated 400 pounds and probably 5 feet tall. but that hasn't stopped a single person coming out here standing directly underneath that tree and just talking about how cute and snugly the bear looks as it's been sleeping on that tree. >> you can't really see him so well. if you know what you're looking for, you can really see him. >> reporter: not hard to miss the black bear. but taking his picture not so easy. >> he's dark and the tree is dark. so he's kind of hard to see but

little bit so we're waiting for that. >> they sent a little tweet saying don't come out into the street and stare at it it's dangerous, so here we are. >> reporter: clogging up traffic and just hanging out. >> i saw the news people outside my door and 56 people on my front lawn. i walked outside and there was a bear on the tree. >> he's a much bigger bear than i thought. i was driving by and saw everybody standing by, and stopped and i saw police. i thought maybe it's an eagle or something. i didn't realize it was a bear until we pulled over and saw him. >> reporter: it was all quiet, nothing but snoozville. >> i've never seen a bear in the wild or around here, only in zoos. >> i don't know how he stays up there without falling. but it's pretty cool. >> how are they going to get him down?

has to get down on his own. >> really? that poor thing. >> reporter: david, as you said this is just pretty much a waiting game or bear watch if you will. the police here in summit are just waiting for the bear to eventually wake up, climb down and go back into the woods. reporting live in summit, darla miles. >> thank you, darla. new york knows how to ring in the new year. 1million people having a blast. we're going to show you what it takes to pull off the postparty clean up. >> taking the plunge, the annual call of the water on coney island but this isn't the icy dip we're used to seeing. >> i think it's warmer in the water than it was in the air today. 38degrees is what we have in central park right now. clearing skies, so temperatures will bottom out. turns out to be a freezing night 24 hour temperature change. we are up to 10 degrees colder than we were at this same time. here's what to expect. seasonal start to 2015, colder

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more than 1 million people packed time square. as soon as the crowd cleared the big clean up began. here's eyewitness news reporter clark. new year's eve in new york city. there's no bigger party any where in the world. a million revelers jammed into time square thursday night to watch the iconic crystal ball slowly descend at midnight and usher in 2016. >> the nypd made sure revelers

the department displayed an unprecedented. on the ground 6,000 more heavily armed officers cover the 20 block span with bomb sniffing dogs and everyone was screened before they were allowed into one of the spectator pens in time square. after the recent terror attacks in paris and san bernardino california the nypd enhanced a security plan to make sure everyone was safe. >> there's nothing new we're doing just more of it. more cameras, more dogs. secondary screenings. >> reporter: after every big party there's always a big clean up. the to get 1 million people out of the way. >> who wants to leave a good party, this is new york. >> reporter: deputy chief of sanitation jeff pits and his crew were charged with the clean up using street sweepers, trash trucks, brooms and blowers they removed close to 50-tons of debris including 2,000 pounds of confetti that

most of the clean up was done. another successful new year's eve party is now in the history books. the nypd maintained all along that time square would be the safest place in the world to ring in the new year. and they delivered on that promise. >> in time square, drake clark, channel 7 eyewitness news. just amazing to see. meanwhile it's a newier's day tradition. the coney island plunge, this year's event not quite the icy dip participants are used to with water temperatures around 60 degrees. the event raises money for camp sunshine.

all right, my partner is here. a little concerned because i have a quiz for the two of you. what makes 2016 so special. one thing really quick. time is up. >> you mean our opinion or your opinion? >> we only have a couple of minutes left of the newscast. it's a day after this year. it's a leap year. >> oh it's a leap year i know. my father and sister are both born on leap year. >> thanks david. >> you don't even care about my story. any way. this is my time being eaten away. so my father and sister were both born on leap year. >> there you go. i thought you would know it. >> my nephew is one day short but now we're getting way too personal. >> there you go. >> temperatures are going to be colder tonight than they were last night.

we're going down to freezing. that's only happened one other time this year. still a friend of above average. temperatures as we ring in this new year but the wind coming in plus clearing skies will allow our the temperatures to get colder. the front is coming through, up to 48-mile an hour winds in moorestown. with the skies clearing will easily let us get into freezing. 32 in the burroughs. here are the windchills right now. the temperature drop combined with the wind making it feel like 29 in white plains makes it feel feels like 21 in monticello. see the clouds sort of separate and especially through the hudson river will see clearing skies already. that set the stage for a sunny weekend both saturday and sunday, brighter skies than we had all week long. temperatures that are cooler

for this time of year. really shaving the numbers at night down to the freezing point and during the afternoon right around the 40s. upper 30s and 40s. that's for both saturday and sunday. most days look very similar. i think perhaps sunday may feel a little warmer. but all in all the coldest air comes behind the weekend. so rolling into monday, the skies do remain looking good. it's a cold dry pattern that we're under for the next several days. by monday though, we could be stuck in the 30s and then go sub freezing on tuesday for at least 24 hours. so clear and chilly with 22 in the city tonight. seasonably chilly with lots of sunshine. sunday similar story. still sunny we go up to 45. monday some flurries could fly. but that's the beginning of the very cold air. 34degrees dropping off to 18. and then we're in the freezing zone all the way through wednesday morning. so that's the coldest air yet

temperatures do recover on wednesday. thursday and friday we're back into the mid-40s. so it'll be a transition this pattern change that takes us until the fifth or sixth of the month then we sweep into another transition that puts us at the seasonal norms. we're not talking 60s but still above average quite possible through the middle of the month. >> there you go. >> there's your seven day forecast. >> it's worth an extra day of the year for that. >> i'm not going to roll my eyes at you again. i promise. we're inching closer and closer to the big day with the jets when we find out -- the gangrene one final practice. and it's all about football and bowling and yes it's the same thing. we're going to take you on a tour of today's game next in

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a lot of very happy jets fans out there counting down the seconds for this weekend. >> do you want to do a quiz of how many seconds it is. >> i can do that. >> come back to us after this. >> sunday cannot come soon enough for the jets and their fans when they find out if their five year drought is finally over. this is a team that has had its share of ups and downs this season playing well at the beginning. they tripped up in the middle but finished strong. all of that has only helped them come together as a group. >> seems like it was rough a little bit.

but it was like a grind, and now it's a lot of confidence and everyone just flowing. well as for the giants when they host the eagles at met life stadium, it could be tom kaufland's final game as their coach. neither the giants or eagles have anything tangible to play for in this finale but then there's that factor. >> there's a lot of pride in this locker room. it's going to be a good fight. it's in our division and it's always a heated battle between us. >> what's the best way to ring in the new year with college football of course. nothing says new year like bowl season. including the fiesta bowl notre dame and arizona. ezequiel came to play today.

yards. irish still had a chance to get back in this one. kaiser to fuller. this turns into a pretty big play. 81yards, made it just a 10 point game but that would be as 44-38. the buckeyes get the win. and next we go to orlando for the citrus bowl. tied game in the second but not for long. jake rudolph to jessen for the 31-yard touchdown. they did not look back fourth quarter. the rout that's officially on. rudolph finding johnson wide open. 8-yard score. gamers. the national title game is now set all we have to do is wait another 10 days for kick off and there's little drama in the semi finals yesterday. we begin with alabama. the crimson tide dominated out.

semis but not this time around. team. i think last year when we came to this game we were happy to take part in the game. i think this year we wanted to you know sort of take the game. >> as for clemson the top ranked team in the country proves it deserves that mark as the tigers took control of the orange bowl after halftime yesterday. they turned it into a rout of oklahoma who was actually favored going in. that 15th win that is the one that really matters. >> that's 17 in a row for us. it's the longest winning streak in the country and we've played a lot of good teams in those 17 games. i'm just so proud of our team. the next will theut -- the knicks will celebrate the new year by hiting the court in new york. today the bruins against the