No Injuries in Electrical Fire at Hamilton Ave. Home

The extinguished an electrical fire within 10 minutes Thursday morning inside the walls of a Hamilton Avenue home.

Chief Scott Lovenberg said the fire was caused from water that got into a receptacle on the outdoor porch when a painting contractor was washing the exterior of house at about 11 a.m. The water caused the receptacle to catch on fire, which then led to a fire in between the interior and exterior walls of the home.

Mt. Kemble, Hillside, and Fairchild Fire Stations of the Morris Township Fire Department all responded to the scene, and had to open up the exterior wall with a saw to get to the fire confined in between the wall, Lovenberg said.

The homeowner's son was the only one home at the time of the incident besides the painter. Both of them sustained no injuries, Lovenberg said.

Lovenberg said the fire occurred in the library room in the home, and the majority of the damage was on the exterior from when the firefighters had to pull the siding and the boards off to get to the fire. The interior structural damage was minor.

After the fire was extinguished, the firefighters spent an hour conducting operations to make sure there were no other extensions of the fire, Lovenberg said. They ripped the wall apart and ventilated the wall to get the smoke out.

Lovenberg said that the investigation determinned that it was an accidental electrical fire.