A firefighter was sent to the hospital this afternoon following a “mayday” situation at a home fire, officials said.
Around
4 p.m., local firefighters were sent to a house on the corner of Flock
Road and Hughes Drive on a report of a fire with possible entrapment,
fire officials said.
Mercerville Fire Department deputy chief
Chris Tozzi said that when firefighters arrived on scene, the resident
had left the residence.
The bulk of the fire was in the garage and there was heavy smoke throughout the residence, he said.
Attempts to use water to put out the fire had to be delayed until power to the house was out, Tozzi said.
“The
electrical panel was exposed and located in the garage,” he said. “We
couldn’t safely begin to put out the fire until the electricity was
out.”
While waiting for the power to be turned off, firefighters worked to prepare the home so the fire didn’t spread, he said.
It
was when a group of firefighters went in through the front entrance of
the home in an attempt to hold the fire that one of the firefighters
became disconnected from the group and called a mayday, Tozzi said.
Ladder
14 and Rapid Intervention Team 19 responded quickly and pulled the
firefighter out a rear window on the first floor, Tozzi said.
Tozzi said he was sent to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton for evaluation.
All of Hamilton’s fire departments responded as well as Robbinsville’s fire department. Tozzi said.
He said the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
The house sustained heavy smoke damage and the garage was left heavily damaged, he said.
There were no other injuries in the fire, officials said.
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