Willingboro Firefighters once again battled fire and high temperatures while extinguishing a shed fire on the evening of July 7th at 6:01 pm. While originally dispatched to a grass fire on Somerset Drive, Chief of Department Burnett was quickly advised by the County's 911 Center that they were receiving several phone calls for a shed fire at 27 New Pond Lane. Chief Burnett arrived in three minutes and found a storage shed in the rear of the home on fire, with damage being caused to overhead power lines.
As the crew of Engine 1613 arrived, Captain Sitzenstock had Firefighter E. O'Donnell pull a 1 3/4" handline to the rear of the home. Firefighter O'Donnell sprayed water on the house to protect it from catching on fire since he couldn't put water on the shed until after the fuse on the power line tripped when the power lines fell onto the ground. Once the power lines fell and the fuse tripped the fire was able to be quickly extinguished. Chief Burnett placed the fire under control at 6:10 pm
Firefighters Blackwell and LeHuquet, along with a crew from Westampton, used hand tools to break apart the burned shed. A crew from Burlington Township was sent to Nottingham Lane at the height of the fire since a shed on a neighboring property was in danger of catching fire. Engine 1613 also received water from Westampton Engine 2721 so the crew could wet down all of the grass, fences, and sheds that were in the area of the shed that burned originally.
There was minor damage to a shed and a house on neighboring properties along with the power and cable TV lines. No civilians or firefighters were injured as a result of the fire. The fire was investigated by the Burlington County Fire Marshal's office and no determination as to the cause of the fire has been found at this time. The original grass fire that Engine 1613 was responding too was extinguished by a crew from Beverly Fire Department. All crews were available from the scene at 7:43 pm.
