This is a VOX recording.
It is condensed and not in real time.
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP - Seven police, fire and rescue agencies responded about 11:15 a.m. Tuesday to a fire that ultimately destroyed a single-story house north of Pitney and Great Creek Roads in Galloway Township.
Most of the damage was to the inside of the house, according to Acting Galloway Fire Chief Joe Blazo. No one was home at the time. A passerby called 911, Blazo said.
Blazo said he expected to have more information later about the cause of the fire.
Galloway Police, Galloway and Absecon First Aid, and Oceanville, Bayview, Pomona and Port Republic fire companies responded to the scene, Blazo said.
PORT REPUBLIC - A wood-burning stove accidentally caused a fire that ripped through a house Christmas Eve, police said Monday. State Police Trooper Brian Murray said he was unsure whether the house was inhabitable and did not know the estimated value of damages.
Homeowner Michael Takash was not immediately available Monday for comment. The blaze claimed the life of his cat Seven, but Takash, his 13-year-old son, Zach, and his girlfriend Temple Douglas escaped unscathed.
Firefighters from Port Republic and the Oceanville and Germania sections of Galloway Township responded to the fire, which started about 11 p.m.
PORT REPUBLIC - Instead of hanging on the front door where wreaths are supposed to go, the wreath from Michael Takach's home now lies underneath a shredded door mat, blanketed by glass shards. The wreath is a reminder of a lost Christmas - a Christmas marred by smoke, flames and heavy hearts.
Fire broke out inside Takach's Central Avenue home after 11 p.m. Wednesday, Christmas Eve. While his son, Zach, 13, and girlfriend, Temple Douglas, survived, the family's pet cat, Seven, didn't make it. The smoke was too thick for the cat's lungs.
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP - Township fire officials are investigating a blaze that destroyed two parked vehicles early Friday morning.
The Cardiff Volunteer Fire Department responded to an emergency call about 4 a.m. at a home on the 300 block of Shires Way, where a van and sports utility vehicle were burning, Chief Tom Sweeny said. Sweeny said seven firefighters responded to the call and it took a few minutes to put out the blaze. The family was evacuated from the house for safety reasons, and no one was injured, Sweeny said.
ESTELL MANOR - By the time Jane Ellenbart smelled the smoke, it was too late.
She walked from the kitchen to the back bedroom of her Eighth Avenue home Nov. 2, opened the new oak door and saw the bright flames. They stretched from floor to ceiling.
Ellenbart screamed. She rushed to wake her sister, who was sleeping in the next bedroom. She gathered her three dogs and two cats, left the house and immediately called 911.
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP - The second time was the charm for Egg Harbor Township officials to agree on how to purchase a new firetruck for the Cardiff Volunteer Fire Company.
Two companies submitted proposals in the second round of bids, and the Township Committee awarded the contract Tuesday to Guardian Fire Equipment, a distributor based in Harleysville, Pa. The firetruck will cost $453,713, about $8,000 less than the company's offer from the first round of bidding. The vehicle will come from E-One, an Ocala, Fla.-based fire equipment manufacturer.
BRIGANTINE - Lots of boys like to go to the firehouse - any firehouse - because that's where they can find firetrucks.
At 17, Omri Jebrell Dempsey is probably a bit beyond thinking that a big red truck is as close as we get to heaven on Earth, but he still wanted to go to a specific firehouse for a specific reason.
