2014 was the Year of fires in hunderdon
county, nj
In Readington Township, residents of six units in the
Hunter’s Crossing townhouse development on Route 202 near Three Bridges were
left without homes after a fast-moving
fire.
The blaze was centered in the unit designated 4 Owl
Court, officials said, but neighboring condo units in the structure sustained
damage as the fire spread.
Also in Readington, fire consumed
a two-story home on Van Fleet Road on Nov. 19. It started when a family member
tried to light wood in a fireplace, authorities said a few days after the fire.
When flames spread outside the firebox, the man
apparently tried to put them out by opening an exterior door and grabbing a
hose. But water in the hose had frozen solid during a cold snap and opening the
door that windy afternoon let in oxygen and the result was a fast-moving blaze.
A natural gas
explosion and fire in a house on Old York Road in Raritan Township
left the home uninhabitable. Employees of a heating contractor were working in
the basement of the residence when the explosion took place Sept. 19.
The blast blew out or damaged every window in the
structure, knocked part of the house off its foundation and left the chimney on
an angle. But nobody was injured.
In Alexandria Township, fire
destroyed a house on Frenchtown-Milford Road on a cold February
afternoon. Firefighters were stymied when an engine got stuck on the icy, long,
sloped driveway.
By the time firefighters were able to carry hoses and
other equipment a third-of-a-mile up the snow- and ice-covered drive, the fire,
which apparently started in the chimney, had engulfed most of the house.
Firefighters were also hampered by the cold weather Feb.
28 when they tackled a blaze that
gutted Peacock’s Country Store in Wertsville, East Amwell Township.
Temperatures dropped to below 10 degrees while the
firemen continued their efforts. The water froze, including on the
firefighters’ gear and equipment, hampering them.