House Fire In Hamilton

HAMILTON TOWNSHIP (Mercer County) - Firefighters from three counties battled a general alarm fire in a nearly 100 year old house in Hamilton Township on the afternoon of Feruary 7, 2006.

Firefighters from Hamilton Township Fire Stations 19 and 17 along with an engine and tanker from Allentown (Monmouth County) and an engine from Crosswicks (Burlington County) were dispatched at 1:32 PM for a reported dwelling fire. Engine and Chief 19 arrived at 1:36 PM to find a three story SFD with heavy smoke showing and confirming a working fire. A full first alarm was requested at 1:41 PM bringing an additional engine from Bordentown Township (Burlington County) as the RIT and an engine from Washington Township for manpower.

Engine 19 crews advanced a 1 3/4 inch attack line into the first floor for an interior attack and were met by "Colliers Mansion" conditions. As firefighters attempted to proceed into the dwelling a flash over occurred. One firefighter from Engine 19 was burned and removed by EMS to a local hospital. His condition is not known at this time.

Command removed all interior crews from the building and an exterior attack commenced at 1:45 PM. All exterior windows were ventilated and companies at the scene used two 1 3/4 inch lines and one 2 1/2 inch line to hit the fire which was now running the stairs into the second floor. After most of the visible fire was knocked down, crews re-entered the house for a second attempt at an interior attack.

Finding more tenable conditions on the first floor, engine crews from Hamilton Engine 19, Crosswicks Engine 261 and Washington Township Engine 40 were able to make the stairs and handle the fire on the second floor and in the attic.

Crews remained on scene for extensive overhaul once the fire was placed under control at 2:26 PM.

Two firefighters injured at farmhouse blaze

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

By MICHAEL RATCLIFFE

Staff Writer, Trenton Times, http://www.nj.com

HAMILTON -- Two firefighters were injured yesterday battling a two-alarm blaze that destroyed an old farmhouse in the 1100 block of Yardville-Allentown Road near Drialo Drive.

The fire near the Hamilton-Upper Freehold border was reported at 1:32 p.m. by a woman who lived in the home.

The woman, the only person home at the time, escaped the burning house, Groveville Fire Co. Capt. Ron Murdza said.

Smoke was pouring from the large, three-story dwelling when firefighters arrived, said Murdza, who led the first team of firefighters that entered the home.

Dragging a hose, they were only able to crawl a short way inside before intense flames roared over their heads and forced them to retreat, he said.

Groveville Firefighter Fred Taylor suffered "deep, first-degree thermal burns" to his shoulder and was rushed by ambulance to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton for treatment, Murdza said. He said Taylor later was released and sent home.

After the flames flared, a second alarm was sounded and firefighters fought the blaze from the exterior, Murdza said.

Crews from the Nottingham, Washington Township, Allentown, Crosswicks and Mission (Bordentown Township) fire companies helped bring the blaze under control by 2:26 p.m.

An Allentown firefighter, whose name was not available, suffered a broken thumb and was taken by ambulance to the hospital for treatment, Murdza said.

He said the house was gutted and declared uninhabitable by a building inspector. Investigators know the fire began on the first floor, but the cause remains under investigation, he said.