LITTLE SILVER: A QUICK STOP TO A FAST FIRE

The scene at 156 Birch Avenue as captured by fire Chief Nick Hubbard Jr. moments after his arrival Monday afternoon. Below, the charred remains of the townhouse Monday morning. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Little Silver firefighters stopped a fast-moving townhouse blaze from spreading to an adjoining unit Monday afternoon, Chief Nick Hubbard Jr. said Tuesday.

Though no flames were visible upon his arrival on the scene shortly after the 4:03 p.m. alarm, Hubbard told redbankgreen that the end unit of four attached homes was engulfed in fire within seconds.

June 13, 2017 - 11:45 am | Comments ()

LITTLE SILVER: BLAZE DESTROYS CONDO UNIT

The scene at 156 Birch Avenue around 4 p.m. Monday afternoon. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

A fire that first became apparent as flames shooting from around an outdoor light fixture destroyed at least one Little Silver condo unit Monday afternoon.

June 12, 2017 - 5:52 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: EMERGENCY PATH PLAN ADVANCES

The existing path, above, links the Red Bank Primary School to Locust Avenue via a wooded area. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

A long-sought emergency roadway to the Red Bank Primary School is nearing reality, borough officials said last week.

May 4, 2017 - 7:00 am | Comments ()

LITTLE SILVER: CAR SMACKS HYDRANT

A one-vehicle accident in Little Silver took out a fire hydrant at Lovett Avenue and Orchard Place at 7:38 a.m. Tuesday.

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April 25, 2017 - 9:25 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: FUND APPEAL FOR FIRE VICTIMS

The family whose Red Bank home was destroyed by fire last week is seeking the public’s help.

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April 7, 2017 - 7:04 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: PREPARING FOR THE NEXT ONE

Three days after a raging fire that destroyed a home and injured five people, including four firefighters just one block away, members of the Red Bank volunteer fire and first aid squads conducted a previously scheduled training exercise simulating multiple emergencies Sunday.

April 3, 2017 - 7:59 am | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: FAMILY DISPLACED BY GYM FIRE

A Fair Haven family was displaced from home after and early-morning fire Sunday, according to a report by aap.com.

No one was injured in the 6:16 a.m. fire in a basement gym at 7 Haggers Lane. The fire was extinguished half an hour later, according to the report.

April 3, 2017 - 5:33 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: HOUSE RAZED, BOOTS STOLEN

The morning after a tenacious fire Thursday, 16 Leonard Street in Red Bank was reduced to a pile of rubble, having been ordered demolished by borough officials.

Meanwhile, an unidentified Sea Bright firefighter who responded to the blaze was looking for a pair of work boots said to have been stolen from his truck on Bridge Avenue, allegedly by the man in the blue Volvo, at right.

A posting about the theft on the Sea Bright Fire Rescue Facebook page could not be immediately verified by redbankgreen

UPDATE to original post: The Red Bank Business Alliance took up a collection that quickly raised $150 to replace the stolen workboots, member Alan Placer tells redbankgreen. (Photo above by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

March 31, 2017 - 9:30 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: FIVE INJURED IN DOGGED BLAZE

The front of the house was ablaze when passerby Paul McCue shot this video. Authorities said the fire appears to have started on the front porch. Below, the house after the fire. (Video by Paul McCue. Photo below by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Four volunteer firefighters and one resident suffered non-life-threatening injuries in a house fire that officials called one of the most challenging in recent Red Bank history Thursday.

By early evening, with heavy equipment standing by to demolish the burned hulk of 16 Leonard Street, fire officials had made a preliminary determination that a cigarette or something similar ignited the front porch, triggering the blaze.

March 30, 2017 - 8:40 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: MAN INJURED FLEEING HOUSE FIRE

Firefighters can be heard crying “get out” before truck horns signal the same message as the resurgent fire tears through the second floor. Below, a firefighter at a second-floor window earlier in the effort. (Video and photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

At least one man was said to have been injured jumping out a second-story window to escape a fire that destroyed a Red Bank home Thursday afternoon.

The blaze, at 16 Leonard Street, just east of Bridge Avenue, proved a tough challenge to volunteer firefighters, who were forced to flee the home’s interior when a situation that appeared to be under control turned into a resurgent inferno.

March 30, 2017 - 6:00 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: FIRE-DAMAGED HOME ON AGENDA

The owner of a single-family Red Bank house damaged in a March, 2015 fire is scheduled to go before the borough zoning board Thursday with a plan to convert it to a two-family home.

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January 4, 2017 - 11:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: DeFAZIO TO RETURN AS FIRE CHIEF

Retired Red Bank police captain Pete DeFazio, at right above, is slated to serve as chief of the borough’s volunteer fire department for 2017, following his election by members Tuesday night.

His swearing-in, scheduled for January 1, will begin DeFazio’s third tour as chief, a post he held in 1987 and 1993. A member of the Relief Engine Company on Drummond Place, DeFazio retired from the police department in 2010, after 35 years on the force. He’ll succeed Chris Soden, of the Union Hose Company, in a tradition that rotates the top job among the borough’s six fire companies.

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December 8, 2016 - 6:34 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: HOOK & LADDER IS SANTA’S HELPER

With The Big Red Guy and his hard-working crew busy as ever over the coming holiday, a group of borough-based volunteer responders is lending a hand (and a big red piece of heavy equipment) on behalf of Red Bank kids.

From now through Friday, December 16, Red Bank residents can register a young family member to receive a personal “Santa Present Drop” visit at their home the following Friday evening — with Santa Claus arriving through the courtesy of the men and women of the Navesink Hook and Ladder company. A fire truck will convey Santa around town, with lights flashing and siren blaring, as he makes a very special pre-Christmas delivery to each address on his list.

December 8, 2016 - 5:01 am | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: FALLING TREE CRUSHES ROOF

A backyard tree that fell on a one-story house at 14 Katherine Street in Fair Haven early Wednesday caused no injuries, but crushed the roof, causing extensive damage.

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November 30, 2016 - 10:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: VOLUNTEERS STOP DRYER FIRE

Volunteer firefighters quickly stopped a dryer fire in a house at 141 Drs. Parker Drive in Red Bank shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday. The house is located behind the Celestial Lodge and has no street frontage. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

November 23, 2016 - 11:00 am | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: ELECTION DAY 2016

A message from the Fair Haven Volunteer Fire Department. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge)

November 8, 2016 - 7:37 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 REMEMBERED

Remembering the dead of the September 11, 2001 attacks on American soil is part of the “vigilance” against future acts of terrorism, Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna said at a commemoration held in Riverside Gardens Park Sunday morning, 15 years after the tragedy.

September 11, 2016 - 10:14 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: HOT PAN FILLS HOUSE WITH SMOKE

A pan left on a hot stove filled a home at 207 East Bergen Place in Red Bank with smoke shortly before 7 p.m. Wednesday. A contingent of volunteer firefighters and other emergency personnel responded to the alarm. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

September 7, 2016 - 7:27 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: FIRE DAMAGES BEDROOM

A fire in a second-floor bedroom at 51 East Sunset Avenue in Red Bank was quickly doused by volunteer firefighters at noontime Sunday. Immediate information about the cause was not available. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

August 28, 2016 - 12:41 pm | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: A FAIR-THEE-WELL TO SUMMER ’16

The area’s longest-running community carnival returns as the 57th annual Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair gets underway Friday night. (Photo and video by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

Generations on the Greater Red Bank Green have known it as a bittersweet occasion — a last dance with the devil-may-care pleasures of the season before that inevitable pivot to thoughts of “back to school” and “where’s my sweater?”

The Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair is all of that and more, and when this oldest (and, many agree, greatest) of all local carnivals puts down stakes for a 57th annual edition that begins Friday evening, it will hold as many different meanings (and represent as many vivid memories) as there are people who have thrilled to its rides, vied for its prizes and stood in line for an order from its celebrated seafood café.

August 25, 2016 - 6:13 am | Comments ()

SEA BRIGHT: TOWN HALL ON REFERENDUM

Sea Bright residents are scheduled to gather for a town hall meeting Tuesday night to discuss a referendum on whether to bond for new public facilities to replace those destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in October, 2012.

August 23, 2016 - 5:58 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: CLASSIC CARS PARK IT HERE

The White Street municipal lot is the scene for eye-popping autos of every era at Sunday’s 14th annual Red Bank Firefighters (a.k.a. Doc Holiday) Car Show. (Click to enlarge.)

Their century-old stationhouse at 40 White Street may have been decommissioned and, as reported here on redbankgreen, green-lighted for a retail/residential conversion. But that hasn’t stopped the volunteer firefighters of Red Bank’s Liberty Hose Company from returning to their long-time home turf for an event that’s taken its place among the borough’s most colorful annual traditions: the Red Bank Firefighters Classic Car Show.

July 8, 2016 - 7:30 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: FIRE DAMAGES VACANT STORE

Fire damaged a vacant retail building at the corner of Shrewsbury Avenue and Catherine Street in Red Bank at about 8 p.m. Monday evening. The blaze was quickly brought under control by volunteer firefighters. Information about the cause was not immediately available.

The building, located at 203 Shrewsbury, next door to On the Rocks Wines and liquors, was last used as a fish market, but has been vacant since the 1990s. Property records indicate it is owned by Sandyriver LLC of Holmdel. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

June 27, 2016 - 9:00 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: FIRE BURNS DOG-FILLED CONDO

Flames were visible from the courtyard side of the unit, above. Below, resident Kevin Tuohy, in striped shirt, speaks with a neighbor while one of the rescued dogs sits in a crate nearby. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Two humans and six canines escaped without injury from a fire in a Red Bank condo Wednesday afternoon.

Police responding to the 4:08 p.m. alarm at the Hilltop Terrace condos on Spring Street escorted Kevin Tuohy, a retired Little Silver police officer, from the burning apartment after an adult female said to have been his daughter had already escaped with several dogs, authorities said.

June 1, 2016 - 5:25 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: WEST SIDE GOES DARK, BRIEFLY

A portion of Red Bank’s West Side, including a stretch of Shrewsbury Avenue, above, was briefly without electricity Tuesday night as a result of a burned wire at Bridge Avenue and Chestnut Street, right. First Energy/JCP&L reported about 427 customers affected in the 90-minute outage before power was restored at 10 p.m.

During the outage, volunteer firefighters responded to a report of a gas leak on a darkened block of Shrewsbury Avenue near Monmouth Street. Fire Chief Chris Soden said no evidence of a leak was detected; other neighbors reported smelling a skunk or marijuana. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

May 11, 2016 - 10:27 pm | Comments ()