A volunteer firefighter crouches on the porch roof to avoid a spray of water from inside. (Click to enlarge)
The occupants of a rental on Red Bank’s West Side safely escaped a predawn fire that tore through their home Saturday.
The blaze was reported at 4:42a at 19 St. Mary’s Place, a narrow dead-end off Shrewsbury Avenue, between Drs. Parker Boulvevard and Sunset Avenue.
Volunteer firefighters had the fire out within 45 minutes of arrival, Fire Chief Alan Soden tells redbankgreen.
The house was at the far end of a narrow dead end. (Click to enlarge)
The cause of the blaze is under investigation.
Soden says all six Red Bank companies responded, backstopped by the Rapid Intervention Team from Fort Monmouth, which is deployed to prevent firefighter entrapment.
“Nobody got hurt. It was a good job all around,” Soden says.
A neighbor, Graham Outland, said the house was occupied by “twenty people, at least,” all apparently Hispanic immigrants. All were said to have exited without injury.
Monmouth County tax records indicate the house is owned by L.C Properties LLC, of 19 Azalea Court, in Little Silver.
