HOBOKEN--A homeless man set himself on fire in the middle of a Hoboken street late Saturday night, police said.

Police received a call just after 11 p.m. that a man was trying to set himself on fire, Hoboken police Chief Kenneth Ferrante told NJ Advance Media. When police arrived, the man was on fire in the middle of the road at Bloomfield and Fourth streets, he said.

Lt. Mike DeTrizio and Sgt. Steven Aguiar--who were the first on the scene--shouted to the man to get on the ground to extinguish the fire, Ferrante said. The man remained standing, but began screaming as the fire started to spread from his jacket to his skin, he said. The officers pushed the man to the ground and helped him roll over to quickly put out the fire, he said.

The man was not seriously injured and was transported to Hoboken University Medical Center. Ferrante could not immediately provide additional information on the incident.

The scene was cleared by 11:20 p.m. No emergency vehicles were present where the incident occurred, and a group of police officers at Garden and Fourth streets declined to comment.

The incident came as patrons continued to pour into bars as part of the annual St. Patrick's Day Bar Crawl. This is the bar crawl's fourth year, and most of the 25 participating bars opened their doors at 11 a.m.

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Nine arrests--for simple assaults and a drug possession--had been made as of Saturday night, Ferrante said. There had been 44 total violations of city ordinances barring public drinking and urination, he said. Ferrante said he expects this number to double by 4 a.m.

Kathryn Brenzel may be reached at kbrenzel@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @katiebrenzel. Find NJ.com on Facebook