November 2004

 

Avenel fire forces residents to relocate - November 30
(Source: Tom Haydon/The Star-Ledger,  December 1)
Photos: Vic Yapello/The Star-Ledger


Firefighters check the roof of a townhouse that caught fire yesterday on Madeline Avenue
in the Park Place on the Avenue development.

A fire that apparently started in an attic furnace yesterday burned two Avenel townhouses and forced residents of six units from their homes. Fifty firefighters from five companies battled the blaze that was reported at 8:53 a.m. in unit 304 on Madeline Avenue in the Park Place on the Avenue housing development off Tappen Street and Park Avenue. ‘‘Flames were shooting 30 feet above the roofs,’’ Avenel Fire Chief Frank Strain said of the blaze that went to three alarms with mutual aid coming from Rahway and Carteret. The fire had burned for some time before it was reported, Strain said. Nobody was injured in the fire, but one resident was escorted out, and a Woodbridge police officer rescued a cocker spaniel-poodle mix, 12-year-old Maxy, whose owners were not home when the fire started. The fire spread from unit 304 to 305, but fire walls stopped the flames from reaching other units, Strain said. Bernard and Chiquetta Drayton, who have lived at 304 Madeline Drive for 11 years, huddled with friends and relatives down the street from their home as firefighters continued to spray hot spots on the townhouse roof. Chiquetta Drayton said she was at her job in Jersey City when she heard about the fire at the complex, but she didn’t know it started in her home until she returned from work. She said firefighters told her the fire started in the furnace, which was located in the attic. Bernard Drayton, who rushed home from his job in Kearny, said the couple turned on the furnace about two weeks ago. A routine inspection of the unit was scheduled for next week, the teary-eyed husband said, as he hugged his adult daughter, Kim Castillo, who had come to the scene from her Jersey City home. ‘‘It’s devastating,’’ Castillo said. Strain said units 304 and 305 were damaged by the fire, and unit 303 had water damage. Residents of all six units in the building had to temporarily relocate, township officials said.
 
Bernard Drayton consoles his wife, Chiquetta, as fire damages their
home of 11 years. Officials suspect the blaze, which forced residents
of six units to evacuate, started in the furnace.

PSE&G faulted for gas blast in Edison- November 16
(Source: Ken Serrano/Home News Tribune November 17)
Photo: Home News Tribune/October 2004


 

Public Service Electric and Gas Co. did not mark a natural-gas line running from the street to a Plainfield Avenue home destroyed by a gas explosion Oct. 12, the state Board of Public Utilities said yesterday. PSE&G maintained, however, that it did set the flags in place to alert anyone to the presence of the lateral gas line. The marking of that line was at the heart of a dispute during the investigation of the blast in the days following it. The board's findings correspond with the claims of an underground fuel-tank contractor, Aurora Environmental of Union Beach, which authorities believe somehow caused the blast while working on the property. Douglas Ziemba, chief of the board's One Call Bureau, said the investigation into the "root cause" of the blast is continuing, being conducted by the BPU's Office of Pipeline Safety. The One Call Bureau, however, contends PSE&G violated the state Underground Facility Protection Act. "They didn't do what they were supposed to do in reference to this act -- namely, mark the line properly," Ziemba said. The main gas line between the curb and the sidewalk was properly marked, he said. The BPU ended its investigation Nov. 5. Ziemba said the BPU was extending an "offer of settlement" to PSE&G in the case. He declined to specify the amount of that offer. Jennifer Connell, spokeswoman for PSE&G, said the utility's position has not changed. "I can tell you we did a thorough job of marking out that facility," she said. She stressed that Aurora exposed the lateral gas line during excavation, making the mark-outs incidental. She also said the explosion would have made it difficult to see any of the remaining markings. John DiGregorio, the president and owner of Aurora, said Oct. 14 that the gas meter to the home was inside the structure. That and the lack of markings prevented him from knowing whether there was a gas line running to the house, he said. "If you're going to look for gas, you're going to look for a meter," DiGregorio said then. The line that Aurora's workers exposed during the excavation of an underground fuel tank on the property could have been a water line or an abandoned gas line, DiGregorio said. DiGregorio could not be reached yesterday evening. The blast jolted the neighborhood shortly after 3 p.m. Oct. 12. The house at 177 Plainfield Ave., destroyed in the explosion, was vacant and up for sale. Homes on either side of the obliterated house were heavily damaged by fire, displacing the families living in them.

Fire Destroys Home, Garage In Perth Amboy - November 15
 (Source: Sharon Waters/Home News Tribune November 16)
(Photos: Mark R. Sullivan/Home News Tribune)

A fire destroyed a Stevenson Place home and a nearby commercial garage yesterday and forced the closure of four blocks of Convery Boulevard during the evening rush hour. No one was injured in the afternoon blaze at 442 Stevenson Place, which was still being investigated yesterday, said Perth Amboy Fire Chief Larry Cattano. The fire was reported at 2:50 p.m. and brought under control in about 45 minutes, Cattano said. The blaze forced the closure of Convery Boulevard between Fayette and Neville streets from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. The commercial garage shared a common wall with the house, which had an attached carport, said Cattano. The fire appears to have started in the residential garage area, he said. "That's what appears to be the heaviest damage," Cattano said. All three structures were in flames when firefighters arrived, forcing them to battle the blaze from the outside, said Cattano.

One of the home's residents, Fabian Rivera, 12, saw the flames as his school bus passed near the house, according to his uncle, Jose Rivera. "(He) came home from school saying he saw the smoke from the bus," said Jose Rivera. "We got here and everything was burning down." The home's other occupant -- Fabian's mother, Frances Rivera -- was not at home when the fire started, Jose Rivera said. At least one propane tank was stored near a fork lift in the commercial garage, said Cattano. "It definitely helped advance the fire. There's no doubt about that," Cattano said. Cattano said Raritan Valley Sheet Metal Inc. of Sayre Avenue was using the commercial garage. A man in the office of Raritan Valley Sheet Metal, who identified himself as the company's owner, said yesterday he was "shocked" by the fire but declined to comment further or give his name. The ownership of the one-story house where Frances and Fabian Rivera lived was unknown last night. The owner of Raritan Valley Sheet Metal said the company did not own the house. The exterior of an adjacent house on Stevenson Avenue had some minor heat damage, Cattano said.


 

Linden house fire displaces two families - November 8
(Source: Julia M. Scott/The Star-Ledger 11/9/04)

A blazing Linden house fire yesterday morning left two families seeking shelter. Investigators are still trying to determine what caused the fire at 1208 Lincoln St. just before 7:30 a.m. The fire started outside the house, which Deputy Chief Joseph Dooley said is unusual. Flames spread quickly over the structure’s vinyl siding, sending thick, black, sooty smoke billowing into the sky, firefighters said. ‘‘You could see it from a couple miles away,’’ Dooley said. A neighbor pulled a fire alarm box at the corner, alerting officials.
Three of the four apartments in the house were occupied. Most of the residents were awake, getting ready to head off to work. All but one resident evacuated the 2 1 /2-story house on their own, firefighters said.
A nearby resident saw the fire and entered the burning house to make sure everyone had left. He found one resident in the building, woke the person and helped them out, Dooley said. There were no injuries. The four-alarm fire was put out within the hour. The house sustained structural damage but is repairable with a few weeks’ worth of work, Dooley said. ‘‘The damage was quite extensive,’’ Dooley said. ‘‘It will take a little bit of work.’’ Five engines and a truck responded from Linden, along with rigs from Elizabeth and Roselle. Mutual aid from Cranford, Rahway and Clark moved in to Linden in case there were any other fires, Dooley said.

Fire Destroys Sayreville Restaurant - November 6


Sayreville firefighters work to extinguish a fire at the Ocean Blue Bar and Grill on Route 9.
(Photo: Noah K. Murray/The Star Ledger)

South Brunswick Man Dies In Mobile Home Fire - Nov 4
(Source: Tom Haydon, The Star-Ledger 11/5/04)

A 68-year-old disabled veteran died in a fire that engulfed his mobile home in South Brunswick yesterday as neighbors tried unsuccessfully to rescue him. Although officials had yet to positively identify the dead man late yesterday, neighbors said the victim was Wallace ‘‘Walt’’ Whiting, a former Marine who fought in the Korean War and had difficulty walking.‘‘We kept calling to him. We heard him inside,’’ said Terri Erickson of her efforts to get into the trailer at 42 Oakdale in the Oakdale Mobile Home Park on Route 1.‘‘Nobody could have done nothing,’’ said Erickson, who lived in the park a few houses from Whiting. South Brunswick police detective James Stoddard said the fire was reported at 12:16 p.m. Neighbors said it occurred just minutes after Maria Whiting left for work. Erickson said she was putting toys into her car when she saw smoke coming from the front of the trailer, and she ran to the door but was forced back by ‘‘tons of smoke.’’ She, along with another neighbor and an Oakdale employee, went to the back door of the home, but the flames blocked their way. Kendall Park Fire Chief Chris Perez said 23 firefighters from the Kendall Park and Monmouth Junction fire companies in South Brunswick battled the blaze, which started in the kitchen and living room area of the home. Firefighters removed Whiting’s body at 3:50 p.m. ‘‘He was a really good guy. I used to help him with his computer,’’ said Frank Posluszny, who lived across the street from the burned trailer. Residents said Whiting, who had lived in the trailer for about 15 years, used a walker to get around his home and a motorized scooter when he went outside. Perez said fires are rare in the trailer park.‘‘We haven’t been here in a while,’’ the chief said. Posluszny said the fire spread fast in the trailer. ‘‘They go up quickly,’’ he said.


Kendall Park firefighters work at the scene of a fatal fire in the Oakdale
Mobile Home Park on Route 1 in S. Brunswick (Photo: Noah Addis/The Star-Ledger)

MCFA Getting 3rd Burn Building
(Source: Jonathan Tamari, The Home News Tribune)
Firefighters will be able to recreate real-life situations when a third county "burn building" is completed next year, county officials said. The 4,765-square-foot training building will resemble a strip mall with an attached warehouse, basement and second-floor apartments when it is completed, said Michael Gallagher, the county's fire marshal. The $2.2 million building will be made of concrete, but certain areas will be made of wood and plywood, allowing firemen to practice cutting through walls, escaping from the second-story or rescuing people from a basement. The building will also include a cockloft, the area between a ceiling and a roof where many fires spread. Demolition work on a concrete pad has begun at the Middlesex County Fire Academy in Sayreville, and officials hope to have the building ready for use by spring. The fires will be started in strategically placed piles of wood and straw, Gallagher said. Freeholder Christopher Rafano, chairman of the county's committee of law and public safety, said the burn building will be the county's third, joining a five-story building used to simulate high-rise fires and another building similar to a house. The county will use the new building for its training classes, and municipalities in the county will be able to use it for their own exercises.
 

 

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