Fire Damages Ophthalmologists' Office on Irvington Avenue

The office of two South Orange ophthalmologists was severely damaged this afternoon in a fire that apparently broke out in the attic.

A receptionist in the two-story frame building housing The Eye Center, the offices of Drs. Phillip and Kenneth Miller, at 211 Irvington Ave., said she and other office workers smelled smoke around 3:30 p.m. There were no patients in the center at the time, and the six workers quickly left the building.

A woman who worked in an office behind the building described the flames as intense. South Orange Fire Chief Jeffery Markey said he called for a second alarm as soon as he saw the heavy smoke pouring from the structure. "We made the turn on Irvington Avenue and I couldn't see up Irvington Avenue," he said.

Firefighters from six departments, including South Orange, Maplewood, Orange, West Orange, East Orange and Irvington, responded to the fire.

The South Orange Rescue Squad and Atlantic Ambulance also responded to the scene, but no injuries were reported.

Chief Markey said the cause of the fire is under investigation. "We had to virtually tear off the roof to finally extinguish (the fire)," Jeffery said. For a time firefighters thought the chimney in the building was unstable and the safety officer ordered all personnel out of the structure.

Dr. Philip Miller emerged from the rear of the building about 4:45 with a handful of papers in his hand. He said he'd opened the office 42 years ago. "I was at a funeral when I got the word," he said, "and I came back here and found another funeral."

Chief Markey said the ophthamologists will be put in touch with Carole Anzalone-Newman, executive director of Main Street South Orange, to discuss relocation of their office while the building is being rehabbed.

While the two South Orange fire companies were deployed, another call came in from the Dunkin Donuts on South Orange Avenue near the train station. Units from the Newark fire department responded to that incident, though it turned out not to be significant. Firefighters from Montclair, Bloomfield and Millburn covered the South Orange fire house in the event other fire calls came in.