Residents Await Word Following Toms River Apartment Fire

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Residents who were forced from a Toms River apartment building amid a Thanksgiving morning fire are expected to be able to go home on Monday, Toms River officials said Saturday.

The fire at Highland Plaza that forced 100 residents to evacuate was caused by careless smoking, said Kevin Esposito, chief inspector with the Toms River Bureau of Fire Prevention. The resident of the apartment was treated at Community Medical Center, Toms River, for smoke inhalation, he said.

The fire in a fourth-floor apartment of Tower C caused heat, smoke and water damage in 75 percent of the building, which was deemed uninhabitable. The 10 to 15 residents who remain displaced are receiving help from the Red Cross and Salvation Army to find them shelter until the building is deemed safe, Esposito said.

The fire started before 7 a.m. on Thanksgiving and authorities were alerted by an automated alarm; fire personnel arriving at the complex at 91 Highland Parkway saw smoke coming from an apartment window.

Esposito said firefighters under the command of Chief Mike Muttie from Toms River Fire Company 1 entered Tower C through a stairwell and were able to extinguish the fire without incident and extension to any other apartment. A sprinkler head outside the burning apartment activated and kept the fire from extending into the hallway, he said.

The residents initially were taken to Toms River High School South with assistance from the Toms River school district, which provided buses for the evacation amid the frigid temperatures, said Jillian Messina of the Toms River Police Department. Some residents were picked up by family and others were placed in temporary housing by the building owner, she said.

Paul Daley, Toms River emergency management coordinator, said it was expected most residents would be able to return to the building on Monday.

Inspector Charles Bauer of the Toms River Bureau of Fire Prevention and Travis Seaman of the Toms River Police Department investigated the fire.

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A firefighter looks into the burned out apartment at Highland Plaza where a fire forced residents into the cold on Thanksgiving morning. Photo by Toms River Fire Company 1