"On The Job"

With I.A.F.F. Local 1197

Edison Firefighters Shovel Out Fire Hyrdants After Snow Storms Cripple the North East

With the large amounts of snow we have recently received, and all through the winter months, Edison Firefighters are requesting that residents shovel out around any hydrants located in your neighborhood. 

Shoveling a 2 to 3 foot circle around the area of the hydrant will allow us to see the hydrant in an emergency, and also hook our hoses up more quickly.

Thanks in advance for helping your local responders!

Gas Leak, Building Explosion Closes Route 27 in Edison

NJ.COM - January 18, 2010 - An Edison building that houses a law office exploded overnight due to a gas leak, rattling neighbors from their sleep and causing dozens to be evacuated near Route 27.

PSE&G workers were about 200 feet from the building, repairing the broken gas line, when the blast erupted at about 4:30 a.m., but no one was injured.

The force of the explosion was so strong, it blew the front door of the building across Route 27 to the front lawn of another house.

“It was like a volcano,” said William Prima, who lives behind the building, the law office of Steven Boda.

The incident led to the evacuation of about 60 homes and business along the Route 27 corridor near the Highland Park border, said Edison Police Sgt. Robert Dudash. Many residents have returned home, though a few are still not allowed back into their houses.

A stretch of Route 27 — from Plainfield Avenue to Duclos Lane — is closed as PSE&G workers continue to repair the gas line. Officials are not sure when the road will reopen.

The explosion leveled the law office — a converted house at 1700 Route 27— and reduced it to a pile of singed debris that was still smoldering as of noon today.

Officials are still investigating the cause of the blast.

The incident started at 2:56 a.m., when a passerby called police about a crack in Route 27 and a strong gas odor in the area, Dudash said.

Emergency workers discovered a gas leak, and started evacuating nearby houses, Dudash said.

At 4:35 a.m., the law office exploded.

“Apparently, the building was filled up with gas, and some ignition caused it to explode,” Dudash said.

Edison firefighters and PSE&G workers at the scene of an early
morning explosion that happened at 1711 Route 27 at around 4:35 a.m.,
causing a building to collapse.

Residents who lived on Ovington Avenue — directly behind the blast — were suddenly awoken.

“I thought a car came through my house,” Toni Augustine said. “The boom was unbelievable.”

Neighbors rushed outside to see what happened and saw flames rising from the law office.

They said sparks from the flames were shooting out into the residential neighborhood, and snowflake-like embers filled the sky and covered roofs and trees.

“They were the size of quarters,” Prima said of the embers.

Police started knocking on doors, telling residents in the area to leave their homes.

Many residents left in their cars, but about 20 people were transported to a nearby 7-11 and then to the Edison Senior Center on Woodbridge Avenue across town, where friends and family picked them up.

The explosion also damaged the two houses on either side of the law office. The vinyl siding of one house was melted off, while the other had broken windows.

Officials said it has been about five years since an explosion happened in Edison.

“What a night,” Augustine said.

MY CENTRAL JERSEY.COM - October 1, 2009 - Edison firefighters and rescue workers extricate the driver of a Honda Civic from his vehicle, Thursday, October 1, 2009, after he struck a utility pole on northbound Route 1 near Old Post Road.

5 Displaced by 3-Alarm Blaze that Destroyed Edison Home

MY CENTRAL JERSEY.COM - September 1, 2009 - Five people were displaced Tuesday afternoon when a smoky three-alarm fire burned through their house on Edmund Street, authorities said.

Officials early Tuesday evening were still investigating the cause and origin of the 3 p.m. blaze, which gutted the single-family dwelling but resulted in no injuries.

Authorities and witnesses reported seeing flames shoot through the roof and windows of the home, located near Route 1 and the New Brunswick border. Smoke from the fire could be seen from the Goodkind Bridge on Route 1.

Troy Whitney, whose family was visiting at his mother in-law's house across the street, said he was in the shower when he first heard the commotion outside.

"All I saw were fire trucks coming from left and right,'' he said. "And I looked at the house and said, "Oh my God, the thing is burning to the ground.''

Whitney, 35, said he saw "thick, toxic smoke'' surrounding the house as flames shot out.

Edison Deputy Fire Chief Joseph Szebenyi said the fire at 38 Edmund St. was first reported by one of the homeowners. Scores of township firefighters responded to find heavy flames coming through the windows, forcing them to work from outside.

Friends of the displaced residents appeared to console them as they watched firefighters douse the smoldering home from across the street. Crews were still spraying water into the structure at 5 p.m., while the street buzzed with the fire engines, police cars and rescue squad vehicles that remained.

Whitney, who said his mother-in-law knows the family, said the younger residents appeared to show up after the fire broke out.

"Just to see their faces when they appeared at the scene — they broke down,'' he said.

Szebenyi said it would take time before the fire was considered under control because there were still pockets of fire inside the charred structure.

"It's going to be a total loss,'' he said.

Firefighters from every township department responded, along with the Edison First Aid Squad and Edison police. Crews from Metuchen and South Plainfield also responded, while neighboring departments covered the township's vacant firehouses.

Fire at Edison Home Displaces Family of Five

NJ.COM - August 26, 2009 - A fire gutted an Edison home today, sweeping from bushes on the front porch up to the second floor.

The flames displaced the five-member family who lives at the East Calvert Avenue home in North Edison, but no one was injured.

Owner Jim James was in the backyard, and his wife Karen was in the kitchen when the blaze started at 4:20 p.m. outside the house. Fire officials are still investigating the cause.

"I was in my rec room, and I saw the smoke so I ran outside," said next-door neighbor Rosemarie Manisa. "The bushes were on fire. Then it went up so fast."

The Jameses escaped through side doors. They live there with their son, daughter and an uncle, said their son Chris James, but no one else was home when the fire started.

All but one of Edison's 12 fire companies either responded to the two-alarm blaze or moved in to cover stations for those that did, said Edison Deputy Fire Chief Joe Szebenyi. It took 45 minutes to douse, he said.

The fire singed leaves off bushes in front of the house and left a giant strip of black char across the middle of the blue home.

Chris James said damage to personal belongings wasn't as bad as they estimated.

"It was more smoke damage," he said, as family members carried baskets of personal belongings out of the house.

Three-Alarm Fire Destroys Apartments in Edison

NJ.COM - April 29, 2009 - Edison firefighters are battling a three-alarm blaze that has destroyed several units in a building at the Durham Woods apartment complex in Middlesex County.

The fire, reported at 12:44 p.m., sent smoke more than 100 feet high and could be seen for miles.

Yasmeen Scudder, 20, said she was sleeping in her apartment in building 52 when she heard people yelling and awoke to see smoke coming through air vents.

She ran to the door but opened it to see "it was all smoke coming in."

"I didn't know what to think. I went to the balcony, and I had to jump. They caught me," Scudder said, referring to other residents in the apartment complex.

At least 16 units in the complex were damaged, and most of them were destroyed. There are no reported injuries.

Photos Courtesy of Tim Castleton.

Midnight Fire Routs 25 Tenants in Edison

NJ.COM - March, 6, 2009 - Abhinand Kura was in the kitchen of his Oxford Arms apart ment in Edison when he saw water leaking from the ceiling. He called the apartment complex management office, but it was late at night, and there was no answer.

He ran to a neighbor's apart ment, and that's when he saw the smoke coming from a third-floor apartment above him and called 911.

"It was a little smoke, then it was huge smoke. Then fire. In 15 minutes it was huge fire," said Kura, one of 25 people who fled from 12 units in Building 19 shortly before midnight Wednesday.

All of the tenants escaped the two-alarm fire and a later explosion without being hurt. Three Edison firefighters were treated at a hospital for minor injuries and released, Deputy Fire Chief Joe Szebenyi said.

Kura said police banged on doors to evacuate the building, part of a complex on Hana Road, a short distance south of Ethel Road.

He grabbed some personal papers and nothing else before fleeing his home, and spent hours in the cold with the other tenants.

"I had nothing but my sandals on my feet. I didn't have a coat until somebody gave me one," Kura said.

Kura then saw the explosion blow out a window in the burning third-floor apartment just after two firefighters tried to enter it.

Other people told Kura a woman in that apartment had left the unit earlier with the clothes dryer still running.

Szebenyi said he had not heard about the dryer, and the cause of the fire was being investigated.

He also said he didn't know what caused the explosion.

Firefighters had to pull out of the building when part of the roof collapsed. Firefighters from several towns assisted at the scene.

"It had a good head start before we got here," Szebenyi said.

Red Cross volunteers aided tenants and provided one family with temporary housing. The other families went with relatives and friends, township spokesman Jerry Barca said.

UPDATE: Government agencies probe cause, effects of fire at EPA site in Edison

MY CENTRAL JERSEY.COM - February 23, 2009 - EDISON - Flames tore through two trailers at an Environmental Protection Agency facility Monday, sending smoke through the Woodbridge Avenue complex and resulting in minor injuries to two firefighters, authorities said.

The blaze started near a malfunctioning furnace in one of the trailers and does not appear to be suspicious in nature, Edison Fire Chief Norman Jensen said. But he said the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, one of several agencies that responded to the fire at the federally-owned site, were still trying to find a definitive cause.

The three-alarm blaze was reported just before 9:30 a.m., drawing dozens of firefighters from Edison and at least four neighboring municipalities, township officials said.

Jensen said the strong winds created havoc for the responders, blowing flaming debris throughout the complex.

The conditions allowed the fire to spread from the large office trailer, where it began, to a second trailer.

"The wind was pushing the smoke horizontally and holding the smoke down to the ground,'' Jensen said. ""And when you got there firefighters had to fight the smoke with air packs (from) the parking area.''

The fires were contained to the two trailers, neither of which contained hazardous materials. But the two structures were damaged so badly that they were left unusable, he said.

The two injured firefighters were treated for exhaustion and smoke inhalation, police and township officials said.

Officials from several government agencies were called in as standard procedure and to conduct air quality tests, which determined that no hazardous materials were released, authorities said. Representatives of Middlesex County HazMat, the state Department of Environmental Protection and ATF were among those who responded.

Beth Totman, an EPA spokeswoman, said three people were in the office trailer when they noticed black smoke coming from the thermostat. She confirmed that maintenance work had been done on the heating system earlier in the day.

EPA employees assigned to the main building were sent home for the day, police said.

Edison firefighters were assisted by crews from Metuchen, South Plainfield, Highland Park and Perth Amboy.

Scene of a serious motor vehicle accident involving a passenger car and two mini-vans, Saturday, December 6, 2008, on Woodbridge Avenue in Edison near the Rt 440 onramp. One victim was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick via NJ State Police med-evac helicopter. JASON TOWLEN / MyCentralJersey

September 2, 2008 - Edison Fire Department responds to a fire at Durham Apartments just off of New Durham Road in Edison on Tuesday, September 2, 2008. (AUGUSTO F. MENEZES/Staff) 3185-METRO. See the Home News for Details Regarding the Incident.	September 2, 2008 - An Edison firefighter watches from a ladder truck as other firefighters inside an apartment unit, with helmet lights shining through the windows, try to dowse remaining flames on the roof of the structure. Edison Fire Department responds to a fire at Durham Apartments just off of New Durham Road in Edison on Tuesday, September 2, 2008. (AUGUSTO F. MENEZES/Staff) 3185-METRO.

Edison Fire Department responds to a fire at Durham Apartments just off of New Durham Road in Edison on Tuesday, September 2, 2008. (AUGUSTO F. MENEZES/Staff) 3185-METRO.		Edison Fire Department responds to a fire at Durham Apartments just off of New Durham Road in Edison on Tuesday, September 2, 2008. (AUGUSTO F. MENEZES/Staff) 3185-METRO.

July 21, 2007 - Fire tore through the Edison Moose Lodge on Talmadge Road early and left the building a smoldering wreck, township fire officials said. About 25 firefighters responded to the scene in Middlesex County at 4:30 a.m. on a report of heavy smoke and knocked down the flames an hour later, Edison Deputy Fire Chief Ralph Ambrosio said. The fire started in the rear of the lodge and engulfed the roof, Ambrosio said. There were no reported injuries. The cause of the fire is under investigation, but it is not deemed suspicious, Ambrosio said.

June 28, 2007 - A boy alerted his family to a fire in the attic in their Plainfield Avenue home after telling them it was very hot in his upstairs bedroom. Fire officials said the family was able to get out safely and the fire was confined to the attic area with some smoke and water damage in the rest of the house. See the Home News for Details Regarding the Incident.	June 28, 2007 - About 30 to 35 firefighters responded and got the fire under control in about 15 minutes. There were no reported injuries.

Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger June 2, 2007 - Edison Firefighters rescue an elderly man from a house destroyed by a blaze Saturday night. See the Star-Ledger for Details Regarding the Incident.

Photos by AUGUSTO F. MENEZES/Staff photographer May 4, 2007 - Edison firefighters work to extinguish Thursday's fire at the Edison Motor Lodge on Route 1. Although the cause is unknown, the fire is not considered suspicious, authorities said. See the Home News for Details Regarding the Incident.	Photos by AUGUSTO F. MENEZES/Staff photographer May 4, 2007 - Huge plumes of smoke rise above the Edison Motor Lodge as it burns Thursday evening.

December 28, 2006 - Firefighters of A Platoon Arrive at the Scene of a vehicle into a dwelling.	December 28, 2006 - As the vehicle collided with the dwelling, a fire reportedly erupted. The driver of the vehicle reportedly escaped with minor injuries.
Photos by PETER ACKERMAN/ Gannett New Jersey (above) January 28, 2006 - An aerial view of a fire in Edison yesterday, above. Smoke billows from a fire behind Raritan Center. The three-alarm blaze burned for several hours yesterday. Smoke could be seen as far away as South Brunswick.	May 13, 2005 - Firefighters From C Platoon Operate a the Scene of a Stubborn Dwelling Fire on Old Post Road

December 19, 2004 - Companies Arrive at the Scene and Begin to Set Up a Water Supply at a Well Involved Dwelling Fire at 91 Redwood Avenue. See the Home News for Details Regarding the Incident.	December 19, 2004 - Fire Suppression Activities Begin at 91 Redwood Avenue.

February 28, 2004 - Firefighters Operate a the Scene of a Wildland Fire on Olympic Drive	February 28, 2004 - Brush Fire Units Battle the Olympic Drive Wildland Fire