EMERGENCY CREWS BATTLE FIRE IN MARGATE
MARGATE -- What started out as a Super Bowl celebration quickly turned into a nightmare for one family, as a fire destroyed their home.
As billows of smoke filled the sky in Margate, crews from across Atlantic County were called into action.
"This is a third alarm we needed a lot of......Continue Reading
man power here," said Chief Anthony Tabasso, Margate City Fire Dept. "We had to call all firefighters in our crew."
The man power was required as crews battled this accidental fire that ignited in the one place that firefighters would have the most trouble getting to: the crawl space.
"The crawl space is very small you can't get anyone in there," said Chief Tabasso.
Unable to reach the source of the blaze, fire officials problems only increased as the fire ran across the entire first floor and up the walls.
"The fire had advanced faster than we anticipated so we had to cut holes in the floor and in the side of the house to gain access to it," Chief Tabasso added.
Once the flames were extinguished firefighters were still on scene for several hours afterwards making sure the fire was out for good.
"There are hot spots throughout the crawl space and maybe even on the 2nd floor. But we're opening up the areas now and extinguishing them," stated Chief Tabasso.
According to home-owners, what began as a super bowl celebration quickly changed once the black smoke starting pouring from the outlets.
Quickly evacuating the home, the Markowski family managed to escape without suffering any physical injuries.
But the thought of losing their family home of almost 50 years would stick with them throughout the morning.
However, it's a fear that might not have come to past just yet.
"Severe smoke and water damage not on the second floor but I can't really say it's a total lost yet," said Chief Tabasso.
