Early Morning Fire Damages Willingboro Home

A quick moving fire damaged a Garfield Park North home in the early morning hours of Wednesday, March 17th. Willingboro Firefighters were called to 50 Normont Lane at 3:39 am for a reported house on fire. The first arriving police and EMS crew reported a house with smoke coming from the front door and all occupants were outside. Engine 1613 arrived in six minutes and found the smoke condition starting to intensify.

Captain Ramsey took command of the incident as Firefighter Ferrell pulled a 1 3/4" handline to the front door. Firefighter's Ferrell and Rydarowski entered the home to start extinguishing the fire. Firefighter Robertson broke windows from the outside to release the built up smoke and heat. The fire had grown in size and was heavily burning in the family room and a den. Firefighters were able to quickly start extinguishing the fire as it was starting to spread into the kitchen and living room.

Chief of Department Burnett arrived on scene and assumed command of the incident and Captain Ramsey became the Operations Officer. A crew from Westampton was directed to the second floor by the Captain to see if the fire had spread to the second floor and to ventilate the smoke and heat. With the fire extinguished and no fire extending to the second floor, Chief Burnett was able to place the fire under control at 4 am.

The home was deemed unliveable by the Willingboro Township Building Inspector due to the damage from the fire. The American Red Cross was called to provide temporary housing for the resident of the home. An investigation was conducted by the Burlington County Fire Marshal's office and the fire was determined to be accidental. All crews were available from the scene at 7:09 am.