Blazes, Alarms Keep Lawrence Firefighters Busy

Lawrence Township volunteer firefighters had a busy night, as they responded to two structure fires, two brush fires and two fire alarm activations in a 10-hour period from yesterday evening into this morning (Sunday, April 15).

The two structure fire destroyed the rear deck of a home on Stonicker Drive and damaged the kitchen of a Princeton Pike apartment. One of the brush fires charred about two acres of forest in Princeton Township, while the other involved an illegal campfire in the woods at the rear of the Rider University campus.

It was 5:08 p.m. Saturday when firefighters from Lawrenceville Volunteer Fire Co. were dispatched into Princeton Township to help the Princeton Fire Department fight a fire a heavily-wooded area between Great Road and Cherry Hill Road.

Princeton firefighters were first alerted to that blaze at 4:55 p.m. and over the course of about two hours requested assistance from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service and volunteer fire companies from Lawrence, West Windsor, Plainsboro, Montgomery, Hopewell Borough, Pennington Borough, Ewing, and Morrisville (Pa.).

Fire officials said the additional help was needed because the blaze was in a difficult-to-reach area and it was labor intensive to douse the leaves, brush, tree limbs and stumps that burned.

At 6:16 p.m. a crew from Lawrence Road Volunteer Fire Co. was called to the scene in Princeton for additional manpower.

Prior to heading up to the wildfire in Princeton, Lawrence Road firefighters and crews from Slackwood Volunteer Fire Co. were dispatched at 5:18 p.m. Saturday to investigate a fire alarm system activation at a business on Litho Road. No fire was found and the alarm was soon traced to a problem with a pipe for the building’s fire sprinkler system.

All Lawrence Township fire crews were back in town from Princeton by 8:30 p.m.

At 10:09 p.m. Saturday, crews from the Slackwood, Lawrence Road and Lawrenceville fire companies were dispatched for a kitchen fire in a unit on the third floor of the Lawrence Plaza Apartments in the 2300 block of Princeton Pike.

Firefighters discovered that a fire had broken out on the apartment’s stove. While the blaze was quickly extinguished, it did scorch some adjacent cabinets and generate smoke that filled the hallway outside the apartment, officials said, noting that fans were used to clear away the smoke.

Volunteers from all three Lawrence Township fire companies were again called to service when a house fire was reported at 12:31 a.m. Sunday at a home on Stonicker Drive, not far from Glenn Avenue.

Smoke was visible from the back of the residence when the first firefighters arrived, so additional help was immediately requested to the scene from fire companies from Hamilton and Ewing.

While the blaze was brought under control in less than 15 minutes, the rear deck of the home was destroyed and some of the vinyl siding at the rear of the residence was melted and charred, officials said. There were no injuries reported.

The cause of the blaze was being investigated by the Lawrence Township Fire Marshal’s Office.

Lawrence Road volunteers had just returned to their firehouse and were in the process of packing clean hose on one of their engines when they were dispatched at 1:51 a.m. Sunday to the Rider University campus to extinguish a campfire that had been discovered by township police and Rider security in the woods behind one of the ball fields at the rear of the campus.

Due to the recent lack of rain and other factors, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service has classified the current fire danger for the central part of the state as “Extreme” and has imposed Stage 3 restrictions for campfires.

Under the fire danger rating system used by the state, the “Extreme” level is the most serious and is described as follows: “Fires start readily from sparks or cigarette butts, spread and crown rapidly. Spot fires common. All burn fiercely and may blow up unless controlled promptly.”

Stage 3 campfire restrictions, meanwhile, are as follows: “All fires in wooded areas will be prohibited unless contained in an elevated stove using only propane, natural gas, gas, or electricity. No charcoal fires are allowed.”  

The fire at Rider is being investigated by township police and the fire marshal’s office.

Finally, just before 3 a.m. Sunday, Slackwood and Lawrenceville volunteers were again dispatched to investigate a fire alarm system malfunction at Quaker Bridge Mall.