Ex-Boyfriend Charged With Setting Fire To Hillsborough Home: SCPO

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — A Somerville man was charged with setting fire to his ex-girlfriend's Hillsborough home while eight people slept inside early Sunday morning, Somerset County Prosecutor Michael H. Robertson announced.

Patrick M. Hammond, 34, of South Richards Avenue in Somerville was charged with first-degree attempted murder, and second-degree aggravated arson. (See Related: Hillsborough House Fire Under Investigation)

On Dec. 30, 2018 at about 12:40 a.m. a fire was reported on Starview Drive just off Amwell Road in the Flagtown section of Hillsborough.

A resident of the home noticed that the outside of the home was on fire and woke up all eight people who were asleep at the time ranging in ages from 4 to 64 years old to escape, Robertson said.

It took firefighters about two hours to extinguish the second alarm fire that was spread from an attached garage to the rest of the house, according to Station 37 Fire.

A family pet cat did not get out in time and reportedly died in the fire.

A former boyfriend of a woman who lived at the home, later identified as Hammond, had reportedly threatened to set fire to a truck at the home, according to an investigation by the Hillsborough Township Police.

Hammond had also sent a photo of the house on fire about two minutes after the fire was reported through text to a friend, Hillsborough Police discovered.

Police searched the area and found him at about 1:36 a.m. on foot in the area of East Mountain Road, about three-quarters of a mile from the Starview Drive home, police report.

Hammond was taken to the Hillsborough Township Police Department where he began to act erratically and was then sent to an area hospital for evaluation under police guard.

An investigation of the fire at the home by the Hillsborough Township Police Department along with detectives from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Somerset County Fire Investigations Unit found that the fire was intentionally set near the outside of the home.

Hammond remains in an area hospital under police guard and upon release will be transported to the Somerset County Jail pending a detention hearing.

Robertson praised the "quick response from all fire, police, rescue, county communications personnel, along with the quick actions of the resident in alerting everyone in the house to escape averted the loss of human life, and no injuries were reported."

The following fire companies and agencies responded to the fire scene: Hillsborough Township Company #2 Fire 37, Flagtown Fire 36, Woods Road Fire 38, Neshanic Fire 48, Elizabeth Avenue Fire 26, Millstone Valley Fire 28, Country Hills Fire 24, Finderne Fire 30, Montgomery Company #1 Fire 45, Manville Fire 42, Readington Fire 32, North Branch Fire 49, Raritan Fire 52, Montgomery Fire Company #2 Fire 46, Middlebush Fire 44, Three Bridges Fire 33, Somerset County Fire Coordinator 99, Robert Wood Johnson EMS, Branchburg Rescue Squad 74, Somerset County EMS Coordinator 97, the American Red Cross, and St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit at 908231-7100, or the Hillsborough Township Police Department at 908-369-4323 or via the STOPit app. The STOPit app allows citizens to provide anonymous reports including videos and photos. STOPit can be downloaded to your smart phone for free at the Google Play Store or Apple App Store, access code: SOMERSETNJ.

Information can also be provided through the Somerset County Crime Stoppers’ Tip Line at 1-888-577-TIPS (8477) or online at www.888577tips.org or at www.scpo.net and click on either “Crime Stoppers” or “TIPS HOTLINE”. All anonymous Crime Stopper tips will be kept confidential.

(Image via Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office: Patrick M. Hammond, 34, of South Richards Avenue, Somerville)

Have a news tip? Email alexis.tarrazi@patch.com.

Get Patch breaking news alerts sent right to your phone with our new app. Download here.