Quick knock down saves town home from major damage
Published in the Trenton Times on 03/13/2003 http://www.nj.com
03/12/2003
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP (MERCER)—A pair of
delivery men, intending to install a new oven, accidentally caused a fire in a
Foxmoor townhouse when they broke a natural gas line while trying to remove the
home's old oven, officials said. The fire was contained to the kitchen of the
home on Devon Court thanks to the prompt response of firefighters, who reached
the scene just three minutes after being alerted, said Washington Fire
Department Capt. Dennis Symons. Residents, whose names were not available,
ordered the new appliance through the Sears department store at Quaker Bridge
Mall, Symons said. He said two men, from a Florence company apparently
contracted by Sears
to make the delivery and install the new stove, arrived at the home yesterday
about 1 p.m. The men, whose names also were not available, did not shut off the
gas running to the old stove before they went to remove it, Symons said. When
the men pulled the old appliance away from the kitchen wall, they cracked the
natural gas line running to it, he said. Natural gas immediately spewed out and,
finding an ignition source, it burst into flames, Symons said. He added that
investigators are still trying to determine what ignited the gas. Police and
firefighters were dispatched at 1:09 p.m. and arrived at 1:12 p.m. as smoke
billowed from the home, he said. A quick attack was made on the flames and the
blaze was under control by 1:17 p.m., Symons said. The gas running to the home
was immediately shut off. Crews from Nottingham and Groveville fire companies
assisted, Symons said. The blaze charred the old stove, the kitchen wall and
cabinets, and also melted a microwave oven, Symons said. But residents were
allowed to reoccupy the home after smoke was cleared out and a PSE&G official
capped the damaged gas line in the kitchen, he said.