Fire Destroys Shed at Cliffwood Beach Home

Donna McCarthy was all set to bring her four children and one of their friends to Lakewood Wednesday morning. Everyone was in the car and before she left, she happened to glance toward her two sheds in the back yard.

"I don't know what possessed me to look over but I did and I saw smoke," McCarthy said.

She and her oldest son, Bobby, jumped out of the car and ran toward the shed.

"We ran halfway through the driveway and it was already up in flames. It was fast," she said, looking off toward the many firefighters and investigators sifting through the ashes left behind.

The McCarthy family had two sheds in their backyard, a taller one for storage and tools and a shorter one for everyone's bicycles.

The fire reached high temperatures, charring a nearby pool deck and melting the side paneling on both stories of the home.

A crowd of friends and neighbors gathered while firefighters battled the blaze.

Jackie Kruzik, who lives about three blocks away and is friends with the McCarthy's, saw smoke and came to see what was happening.

"We saw the smoke and actually had ashes come down in our backyard," she said.

Aberdeen Fire Official Bill Spafford said the cause of the fire at 119 Wayside Drive is unknown at this time.

Cliffwood Volunteer Fire Department, Aberdeen Fire District No. 1, Keyport Fire Department, South Aberdeen EMS, Aberdeen Police Department, and the Monmouth County Fire Marshall all responded to the scene. Laurence Harbor Fire Department covered for Aberdeen Township in case of a second emergency.

The fire was contained in about 20 minutes, Spafford said.