Cook Suffers Burns Trying To Put Fire Out At Holiday Care Center

BERKELEY TOWNSHIP, NJ - A cook at the Holiday Care Center on Plaza Drive in Holiday City suffered burns as he tried to put out an accidental grease fire in the kitchen, Police Chief Karin T. DiMichele said

Police responded to the facility on March 27, 2018 on a report of a fire with possible injuries. When Sergeant Damon Papa, Patrolman Warren Black, and Patrolman Robert Kennedy entered the facility, they located the fire and found it was contained to the kitchen.

The sprinkler system had extinguished the blaze, but the cook suffered non life-threatening burns to his arms, hands and chest. He was taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River for treatment, the chief said.

The Manitou Park Fire Company, Detective William Somers, the Ocean County Fire Marshal's Office, the Ocean County Sheriff's Department, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office and the Berkeley Township Fire Official responded.

They concluded the fire began when a small pot of grease was ignited accidentally and the cook was injured when he tried to put out the fire, DiMichele said.

Photo: Patricia A. Miller