MONROE — Electrical problems may be the cause of a fire that took place Sunday morning in the Clearbrook retirement community.
A resident on Maclura Plaza called police at 9:40 a.m. after she noticed problems with the electricity in her residence and smelled smoke, according to police Sgt. Lawrence Linke.
The resident was able to leave the home and call 911 from a neighbor’s house.
All three township fire districts, the Police Department and the Monroe Township First Aid Squad responded to the scene, as well as the Hightstown Fire Company Station 41, according to Capt. James J. Carbin of Monroe Township Fire District 2.
Carbin said firefighters arrived at the house within five minutes of the call and discovered a fire in the attic, just above the kitchen. They then began an "interior attack" to extinguish the flames, he said.
"We pulled down the ceiling area in the kitchen to put out the fire," Carbin said Tuesday.
Carbin said the fire was contained within the attic and brought under control within about 15 minutes.
No injuries were reported.
The home sustained fire damage in the attic and water damage in the kitchen and living room, Carbin said.
"There was some damage to the attic and the roof trusses," Carbin said.
Carbin said the resident told him she noticed that her thermostat was not working, indicating there may have been an electrical problem. However, it is possible it was unrelated to the fire, he said.
"We don’t know for sure if it resulted from electrical problems," Carbin said.
Linke said later that due to what appeared to be electrical problems throughout the house, he believed electricity was the likely cause.
"There are five different rooms that have [electrical] baseboard heating. and three rooms didn’t work, so she had no heat in those rooms. Two of the three digital thermostats didn’t work," Linke said.
"The phone also went dead when she made a call to a neighbor," Linke added.
The township’s Bureau of Fire Prevention is investigating the incident, he said.
— Tara Petersen