Fire Rescue News - Fire kills Middle Township man; son crashes ambulance minutes later

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 The 3:30 p.m. fire that started at the kitchen stove in the Breakwater Road house and included an explosive flashover took the life of Joseph Sims, whom neighbors said was in his 60s.

Police are investigating whether the fire also set in motion a chain of events that ultimately hurt six other people, including two police officers.

The ambulance collided with a Chevy Trailblazer driven by Alyn Toth, 43, of Burleigh section of Middle Township.

Toth was airlifted to the Regional Trauma Unit at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City with injuries described by police as serious. The hospital said the Toth family has requested that no information about her condition be released to the media.

Police are still investigating the link between the fire and the car crash on Route 9 just north of Indian Trail Road in Middle Township.

Middle Township police Chief Chris Leusner said the ambulance driver was “on the clock” at the time and preliminary indications are that the siren and emergency lights were on as he headed south on Route 9.

Middle Township police confirmed the driver of the ambulance as Joseph Sims Jr., the son of the fire victim, but Leusner noted that investigators are still taking statements and are not saying the car crash was directly related to the fire.

“I’m not in a position to say that, yet,” said Leusner on Tuesday night.

Lower Township police had not released the fire victim’s name as of press time, but his neighbors on Breakwater Road identified the victim as Joseph Sims, who they said was in his 60s and a longtime resident at 434 Breakwater Road with his wife, Marie.

Their son, Joseph Jr., 46, who neighbors said had been living with and caring for his elderly parents, was not injured seriously in the car accident on Route 9 in Middle Township, which was called in just eight minutes after the fire.

That accident, which occurred at 3:49 p.m., injured both Sims and front seat passenger Paul Hewitt, 24, of North Cape May. The two men were taken to Cape Regional Medical Center in Cape May Court House, where they were treated and released. Middle Township police said Hewitt was not a patient in the ambulance.

The chain of events began with a kitchen fire at the Sims’ residence.

Lower Township police Chief Ed Donohue said Patrolmen William Barcas and Michael Szemcsak made entry through the back door, staying low to the floor, but heavy smoke drove them back.

“They’re going back out and Officer Barcas sees movement. He thinks it’s a person,” Donohue said.

Not knowing what the movement was, Donohue said Barcas grabbed at it.

Donohue said at that point there was a flashover, which is an explosion of combustible materials that can happen when a majority of materials in a fire reach ignition point.

That’s when the officers decided to get out. Donohue said Szemcsak grabbed the ankles of Barcas and pulled him out. Barcas, however, was still holding onto what he had grabbed, which was a cage containing the Sims’ dog, a boxer that was safely pulled from the burning home.

Both police officers and Marie Sims were taken to Cape Regional Medical Center where they were treated and released for smoke inhalation.

At 3:49 p.m. police in Middle Township received reports of the two-vehicle crash. Leusner said the department and county investigators will look into the speed of the ambulance at the time of the crash. He noted that the Cape May County Fatal Accident Investigation Team is also involved.

Right about the time of the car crash, volunteer firefighters from Erma, whose fire hall is directly across the street, were already working to gain entry to the burning house. Fire Chief Warren Muller said five firefighters already happened to be at the firehouse and were at the blaze when the flashover hit.

“All they had to do was put on their gear and drive across the street. We had heavy smoke showing. We started ventilating windows and we actually had a flashover,” Muller said.

Next door neighbor Raymond Haigh, 84, said it began as a rumble and he thought it may be a motorcycle driving by. But then he said there was an explosion, which at first he thought might be related to the Cape May Airport across the street.

“The whole house shook. I thought it was a jet taking off. It blew the (Sims’) windows out,” Haigh said.

Minutes later he saw people being put on stretchers.

His son, David Haigh, 50, said he was at a doctor’s office on Indian Trail Road and heard the car accident.

“We heard a big boom. I pulled up and saw an SUV, T-boned, and an ambulance. Then my wife, who works as an EMT in Avalon, called me and said: ‘The house next door to your father’s is up in flames,’” David Haigh said.

He said he hurried home and found that his father was not in danger.

Raymond Haigh was happy to hear that Marie Sims got out.

“They’re good people, very good people. They had propane. I have a sneaky suspicion the stove was left on and somebody lit a match,” Raymond Haigh said.

Muller said the fire is under investigation but is not suspicious. Firefighters from Erma, Town Bank, Villas and Rio Grande fought the blaze, mounting an interior attack wearing air packs. A former Town Bank fireman, now a paid firefighter in Baltimore, was in the area and also responded.

The fire was declared under control within an hour, but the elderly man’s body remained in the home for several more hours as investigators worked the scene. Muller said the Cape May County Fire Marshal’s Office and Prosecutor’s Office will join with local officials in the investigation.

Firefighters from Cape May Court House responded to the car accident along with rescue units from Cape May Court House, Rio Grande and Belleplain.

Lower Township Mayor Mike Beck was also there.

“It’s a shame. My heart goes out to the family. The officers as well as the families are in our thoughts and prayers,” Beck said.

Contact Richard Degener:  609-463-6711  RDegener@pressofac.com

Contact Ben Leach:  609-463-6712  BLeach@pressofac.com

Police say the Middle Township ambulance driver who crashed into another vehicle Tuesday while responding to a fire that killed his father, was not responding in an official capacity.

The accident happened after 3:30 p.m. Tuesday along Route 9 -- minutes after a fire was reported inside Joseph Sims' home in the Erma section of Lower Township.

Joseph Sims, Jr., a member of the Middle Township Ambulance Corps, raced to the scene after finding out about the fire -- but the ambulance collided with a Chevy Trailblazer driven by Alyn Toth, 43, of Burleigh section of Middle Township.

She was airlifted to the Regional Trauma Unit at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City. Police say her condition had stabilized Wednesday.

Middle Township Police Chief Christopher Leusner said Sims would not have been able to legally respond to the Lower Township fire. Joseph Sims, Jr., 46, and front seat passenger Paul Hewitt, 24, were not seriously injured in the accident.

The elder Joseph Sims was in his 60s, and officials say the fire started at the kitchen stove.

Two police officers were treated for smoke inhalation after trying to rescue Sims.