A home in the Hawthorne Park section of town was heavily damaged by fire on the evening of June 21st. A neighbor from Hewlett Lane called 911 at 10:20 pm to report the home behind theirs was on fire. The fire department was dispatched at 10:22 pm, along with departments from several neighboring towns. Engine 1613 and Supervisor 1610 (Captain Gardner) were on scene in four minutes at a house on Hawthorne Lane. The home had fire coming from several windows, and there were reports of people possibly still in the home.

Captain Gardner requested "All Companies In Service", signifying a major fire. Firefighters E. O'Donnell and Riley forced open the front door and entered with a 1 3/4" hose line in an attempt to start extinguishing the fire. Acting Lieutenant Fresco checked the entire home from the outside and wires down in the rear of the home along with smoke and fire coming from windows on all sides of the home. Due to heavy fire conditions the crew was pulled out of the home and started to extinguish the fire from the outside.

Once the fire was knocked down, the crew from Engine 1613 and a crew from Westampton Engine 2723 entered the home again in an attempt to extinguish the fire. As the crews entered the home, the fire started to spread to the second floor, and the stairs started to collapse due to damage from the fire. Crews were once again pulled out of the home. A crew from Burlington Township Squirt 3014 pulled an additional hose line from Engine 1613 and assisted the other crews with extinguishing the fire.

Chief of Department Burnett and Deputy Chief Sitzenstock established a Command Post, and Captain Gardner became the Operations Officer. A second alarm was called for additional manpower due to the heavy amount of fire in the home. A crew from Mount Laurel Quint 3614 attempted to enter the second floor from an exterior window so they could search the second floor. The crew quickly discovered that the floor was collapsing due to damage from the fire and removed themselves from the building.

With the fire still burning uncontrolled in the home, a 2 1/2" hose line was put into service from Engine 1613. Due to the persistent work of the crews fighting the fire, Chief Burnett was able to place the fire under control at 11:03 pm. The crews were eventually able to enter the home to finish extinguishing all fire and to complete a search. It was discovered that nobody was home at the time of the fire, and there were also no injuries to any firefighters.

An investigation was conducted by the Burlington County and NJ State Fire Marshals Offices. The American Red Cross was called to the scene to assist the homeowner with temporary housing. The house was deemed unsafe by the Willingboro Township Construction Official's Office due to the heavy damage, and all of the utilities were disconnected from the home. All units were clear from the scene at 3:21 am.