MUTUAL AID TO WEST WINDSOR
Photos by: Dennis Symons, WTFD
Story by: Kevin Shea, Trenton Times: http://www.nj.com/news/times/
07/12/2001
WEST WINDSOR TOWNSHIP (Mercer)---Flames damaged the back wall and screened-in porch of a group home on Village Road West yesterday morning, police said.
Seven autistic adults live in the house operated by Eden Acres, a division of the Eden Institute, a nonprofit Princeton Township organization that aids and educates autistic children and adults.
At 10:50 a.m., township police received an alarm from the house's security company, said Sgt. Carl Walsh, who responded.
When he arrived at the home in the 600 block, he smelled smoke, ran to the back of the house and saw that a large pile of firewood stacked on the porch on fire, he said.
Walsh entered the front of the home after spotting the fire to search for residents, but found it empty, he said.
The residents and four staff members were at a planned getaway, said Walsh.
The township's two fire companies extinguished the flames with assistance from fire companies from East Windsor, Hightstown and Washington Township.
The flames caused extensive damage to the rear wall and porch, but firefighters prevented it from spreading, said Walsh.
The residents have been moved temporarily to another group home in Mercer County, an Eden Institute official said. The organization runs 10 such homes in the area.
The police department's detective bureau is being assisted in the investigation by fire specialists from the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office. The fire is not considered suspicious, Walsh said.
