4 Residents Displaced After Fire Blazes Through Apartment In South Brunswick

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ – Residents from two units were displaced after a two-alarm fire damaged two apartments in South Brunswick on March 28.

Around 4:33 p.m., the Monmouth Junction Fire Department was dispatched to F1 East Garden Way for a report of smoke coming from a refrigerator. As fire and police personnel were responding, additional 9-1-1 calls were received of flames visible. Monmouth Junction Fire Chief Scott Smith arrived first to discover heavy smoke coming from the front and back of the 16-unit apartment building with a working fire in the kitchen of the first-floor apartment, authorities said.

Firefighters stretched hose lines into the building to attack the fire and also perform searches of the four apartments off the common hallway.

Firefighters managed to confine the fire to the single apartment which was deemed uninhabitable due to the damage. The second-floor unit above was also deemed uninhabitable as a precaution due to the fact that structural elements were exposed during extinguishment efforts, authorities said.

Property management and the Red Cross were working to provide temporary housing for the four displaced residents.

Firefighters did an outstanding job placing the fire under control within minutes of arrival, limiting the damage to just one unit, Chief Smith said. Thankfully this fire occurred during the daytime when fewer people were home and those who were most likely awake. This could have turned out must differently if the fire occurred overnight, according to the fire chief.

A total of 60 firefighters responded to the two-alarm fire, including firefighters from all three South Brunswick departments, as well as firefighters from Plainsboro and Monroe. Firefighters from East Brunswick, North Brunswick, Franklin Park, Griggstown and Montgomery Township covered South Brunswick fire stations, responding to one additional call.

No injuries to residents or firefighters were reported. The fire is currently under investigation by the South Brunswick Township Fire Safety Bureau.

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