Malfunction ignites fire

Englishtown Road closed, salvage business damaged.

By: Melissa Hayes
MONROE — A boiler malfunction started a fire that destroyed part of Railroad Salvage on Englishtown Road and kept a portion of the road closed for more than five hours Tuesday morning.
   According to police, a passing motorist reported the fire from a cell phone at 6:21 a.m. When Monroe Township Fire Co. No. 1 responded to the call flames were coming through the center portion of the roof, according to police.
   Central Monroe, Applegarth, South Old Bridge, Sayreville, North Brunswick, Spotswood, Jamesburg, Englishtown and Helmetta fire companies also responded to the scene. Fire Company No. 1 Chief Rich Hayes said that so many companies were needed at the site because of weather and water pressure problems.
    "It was extremely cold so we were going through a lot of manpower," he said. The fire was contained to one fourth of the building because of firewalls. "The building, through the use of cement fire walls, was divided into four sections and we were able to contain the fire to one of those four sections," Chief Hayes said. "For a building without sheet rock walls and an open space that size, that’s pretty amazing."
   He said the fire was under control within an hour and a half and it took a few more hours to completely extinguish it. In addition to the one section destroyed by the fire, another section had some fire and smoke damage and a third section had smoke damage, Chief Hayes said.
   Monroe Police Detective Sgt. Lawrence Linke said the portion of the building that was destroyed was removed.
   "They took a machine and ripped it out to make sure the fire was out," he said Wednesday morning. Firefighter Jeffrey McDonnell, 25, of Monroe Fire Co. No. 1 was taken to Old Bridge Regional Hospital after stepping on a nail while fighting the fire.
   He was given a tetanus shot, treated and released, Detective Sgt. Linke said. Once the fire was extinguished, the Middlesex County prosecutors office Arson Task Force, detectives from the Monroe Police Department and fire officials investigated the cause of the fire. They determined that a faulty boiler caused something to short circuit.