Evergreen Avenue fire displaces woman in Longport

Posted: Friday, May 15, 2009 3:10 am | 0 comments

Longport - A woman was displaced Thursday night when her Evergreen Avenue house caught fire, but she and her puppy escaped unharmed, a fire official said.

The Fire Department was called at 7:47 p.m. to the first block of North Evergreen Avenue and arrived to see fire coming from the rear of the building, Capt. Patrick Armstrong said. Firefighters quickly put out the outside fire, but opened the door and saw more smoke and fire in the kitchen...Continue Reading

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Firefighter Dan Greenberg went into the kitchen to extinguish the remains of the blaze, then he and firefighter John Strobel went upstairs to check the second story of the wood-frame house, with assistance from the Margate Fire Department, Armstrong said. Somers Point firefighters staffed the Longport station.

The kitchen sustained extensive damage, and the house is not habitable, Armstrong said.

Next-door neighbor Roy Law said he and his wife were watching television in their living room when their ceiling fan made a strange noise.

"We could smell our fan had started to short out or something" and figured there had been a power surge, Law said.

A few minutes later, Law said he saw a police car arrive, and smoke was running up the wall of his neighbor's house. They both pulled their cars out of the driveway they share to make room for firefighting equipment.

Law and his wife took the homeowner's dog into their house, he said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, Armstrong said.