The view west along Newman Springs Road as firefighters battled a truck blaze beside Spirits Unlimited, at center; below, fire still burns beside the shell of a tractor-trailer cab.
[THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED SINCE ITS INITIAL POSTING AT 6:30p SUNDAY]
Red Bank volunteer firefighters and others from nearby towns fought a smoky truck blaze in the parking lot of the Spirits Unlimited liquor store on Newman Springs Road early Sunday evening.
The incident began when a vehicle struck an electrical pole at 4:16p, according to a Jim Markey, a spokesman for electrical utility Jersey Central Power & Light.
At 4:45, the company opened a breaker to make the scene safe, resulting in a loss of power to 486 customers, Markey said.
The smoky scene at Spirits Unlimited.
The outage lasted until 5:05p, he said, when all service was restored.
Markey described the accident as a “car-pole” incident. But employees at nearby stores told redbankgreen the fire began when a live electrical wire fell on the truck, which appeared to have been parked alongside hedges that separate the liquor store from the adjoining Red Bank Volvo dealership. Some witnesses reported hearing an explosion, which they attributed to a transformer.
Fire department officials were not immediately available for comment.
An employee at the nearby SuperFoodtown said power to the supermarket was knocked out for about 90 minutes. The store, which had been scheduled to close at 10p, remained closed at 5:30 as workers waited for cash registers and other systems to be reset.
We’ll have details as they become available from fire and utility officials.
