House fire leaves eight homeless
Source: The Star-Ledger, September 27, 2005

CARTERET: A house fire on Clauss Street left eight people homeless and sent two patrolmen to the hospital for smoke inhalation, police said yesterday. The fire was reported at 12:58 p.m. Saturday when a neighbor noticed flames on the back deck of the house behind him. George and Susan Tasnady fled the house along with their two children, Korian and Jared, their nephew, Justin Oxley, and his friend, Daniel Ingrassia. The fire gutted the building and began to burn the side of the neighboring house, which caused police to evacuate neighbors, Mary and John Gromek. Patrolmen Matthew Failace and Douglas Greenberg complained of smoke inhalation and were taken to Robert Wood Johnson Universtity Hospital in rayway, where they were later released. Daniel Ingrassia was also treated at the scene for smoke inhalation. Police said the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Blaze routs families
Source: The Star-Ledger, September 9, 2005 Photo: Vic Yapello, The Star-Ledger

An early morning fire destroyed the former Lamppost Lounge on Livingston Avenue in North Brunswick yesterday and forced two families next door to evacuate when flames damaged their home. Firefighters battled the blaze for approximately four hours. Police are investigating the cause of the fire, which started about 4:30 a.m. There were no reported injuries.

2 nearby blazes raise suspicions
Source: The Star-Ledger, September 9, 2005

EDISON: Firefighters were sent yesterday to two suspicious fires that were a block apart and reported to police within minutes of each other, authorities said. After almost nine hours, firefighters finally put out the first fire in a large mulch pile at 2 p.m. at the back of the Generated Material building on Meadow Avenue. Police said firefighters had the flames contained but that because of the pile’s large size, it was difficult to extinguish. There were no reported injuries. The fire was reported to police around 4:20 a.m. Within nine minutes police received a second report of a fire a block away on Executive Avenue. The second blaze involved a pile of pallets at the back of the Minimax Trucking building. Firefighters quickly extinguished the flames. Police said the flames damaged the building’s overhead canopy but were quickly contained. There were no reported injuries. Because of the fires’ close proximity and timing, police are treating the incidents as suspicious.

HOUSE BURNS IN SAYREVILLE; Firefighter is overcome by smoke; Faulty wires may be cause of blaze that left severe damage
Source: Sharon B. Adarlo, The Star-Ledger, September 9, 2005 Photos: Vic Yapello, The Star-Ledger

Fire gutted the second floor of a Sayreville home yesterday and sent a firefighter to the hospital after he was overcome by smoke. Neighbors reported the Kenneth Avenue fire to police minutes before 9 a.m., authorities said. Flames filled the second floor of the two-story house as gray smoke poured over the street, according to officials. The owner was not at home during the fire, police said. Borough Fire Chief Bob Lasko said that all four borough fire companies responded to the scene several minutes after the fire was reported along with firefighters from South Amboy, South River and Cheesequake.Firefighters battled the blaze for 45 minutes before bringing it under control. Frank Carr, a firefighter from Sayreville’s Morgan Company, was cutting open a hole in the roof when he was overcome by a cloud of smoke, Lasko said. Carr was sent to Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy and was later released, according to the fire chief. There were no other injuries, police said. The second floor of the house was an empty shell, and the rest of the house suffered heavy smoke and water damage, said Mike Dandorph, borough fire marshal. ‘‘There’s also 3 feet of water in the basement from the hoses,’’ Dandorph said at the scene. The fire marshal said the cause of the fire is still under investigation, but it appears to be accidental and may have been started by faulty electrical wiring in the second floor. Neighbors told police and fire officials that the owner’s cat was in the house during the fire, which sent firefighters searching around the house. ‘‘We looked for the cat, and we can’t find him,’’ Dandorph said. Paul Bulla who lives across the street, worried about the cat. ‘‘Maybe it was lucky and ran out,’’ he said.

Matt Fitzgerald, a Sayreville firefighter, has his blood pressure checked at yesterday’s fire. It took 45 minutes to bring the blaze under control.

 

Sayreville firefighters in an aerial bucket attack flames during yesterday morning’s blaze at a house on Kenneth Avenue. No one was home when the fire was reported before 9 a.m. The second floor was gutted.