No One Injured in 15-Unit Bradley Beach Building Fire

No one was injured in a fire that damaged a 15-unit residential, brick building in Bradley Beach, although one firefighter was checked at a local hospital, said Fire Department Captain John McLoughlin on Saturday.

A firefighter was examined after helping to fight a fire at 319 Newark Avenue, on Friday night, McLoughlin said. However, it turned out that the firefighter suffered a bout with asthma, possibly triggered by inhaling Dry Chem that was used to fight the fire, McLoughlin said.

Numerous residents from many of the 15 units in the building had to be evacuated due to the fire that started somewhere on an electrical line leading from the street to the "mask head of the service," which is where the line from the street attaches to the panel box in the basement, McLoughlin said.

He said he did not know exactly how many people were safely evacuated, but that they included a number of women, children and babies, none of whom appeared to be injured. All of the residents had to stay in hotels for the night, due to the damage to the building and that gas and electric had to be shut off, McLoughlin said.

Some units were occupied, and others not occupied, when the fire began at about 10:30 p.m., with some residents coming later to get their belongings out of the building, he added.

The fire was extinguished in about 15 minutes, but firefighters had to remain on the scene for some time after that to check the roof, the building and to wait for JCP&L to respond since it was an electrical fire, McLoughlin said.

JCP&L cut the wires, the owner needs to have an electrician re-run the wires and then have JCP&L inspect the work and restore power, he added.

Bradley Beach had eight firefighters and two trucks on the scene, where they were assisted by 12 firefighters from Ocean Grove and about 15 from Neptune City.