Fire Guts Port Republic Home
From the Atlantic City Press Published: Thursday, July 24, 2008
By EMILY PREVITI Staff Writer, 609-272-7221
PORT REPUBLIC - A retired couple living off Riverside Drive in Port Republic lost their home in a fire early Wednesday.
About 50 firefighters and seven tankers responded at 2 a.m. to 286 Riverside Drive and brought the blaze under control in about an hour, according to Port Republic Fire Chief John Yochim.
Nobody was hurt, but John and Lelia Adams lost their pet dog and cat, Yochim said. They are staying with neighbors.
John Adams was helping investigators examine the rubble Wednesday afternoon to determine the cause of the fire as Lelia Adams left the scene. Near tears, she said they did not want to comment.
The breeze still carried the scent of smoke near the three-story house. Little remained besides its charred frame and the bottom portion of a brick chimney on the east side of the house. Soot dotted the warped siding of the lower west end, the only portion that appeared intact.
The fire did not touch the trees in the heavily wooded area around the home, located on a slope at the end of a long stone driveway off Riverside Drive. The couple built the house about 20 years ago, at the same time Joe and Vivian Loveland were building theirs next door.
Business travel kept the Adamses from living there full time, but they retired to Port Republic about six months ago, Joe Loveland said.
The State Police and the state and Atlantic County Fire Marshal's offices are investigating and do not yet know what sparked the blaze.
Fire departments from Absecon, Galloway Township, Port Republic, New Gretna, Somers Point, Farmington and Nesco responded, according to Yochim.
The Federal Aviation Administration also sent a tanker to the scene, Yochim said.
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