XFirefighters on scene at 91 Bank Street Thursday. (Photo below by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A Red Bank man and his dog escaped unharmed as a basement fire caused heavy damage to their home early Thursday afternoon.
Smoke pours out of a basement window. (Photo John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Bennett Craft told redbankgreen he had just returned home to 91 Bank Street from a shopping errand when he found the house filling with smoke.
He and his dog escaped the one-story house, near Tilton Avenue, as a fire alarm went out at 12:40 p.m.
An official account of the blaze was not immediately available, but the fire was believed to have been started by a waterbed heater improperly used with a regular mattress in a basement bedroom.
Volunteers from Middletown ands Little Silver joined Red Bank firefighters in knocking down the blaze.
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