Electric heat lamp appears to be contributing factor
By John Tredrea, Staff Writer
More than a dozen chickens were killed and nearly half of a large barn in Hopewell Township was destroyed by a fire that broke out early Monday evening.
”An electric heat lamp that was used in the section of barn for the animals appears to be a contributing factor for this fire according to investigators,” said Hopewell Township police Lt. Lance Maloney. “The investigation is still under review,” he said Wednesday.
The fire, which was discovered by upstairs tenants of a house on the same property, killed about 15 chickens that lived in the barn.
Some other chickens and a goat that lived in the barn escaped unharmed through a doorway opened by a member of the Turek family, which owns the property.
Lt. Maloney said sisters Kelsi Kosinski, 24, and Jessica Kosinski, 26, upstairs tenants in a house at 336 Hopewell-Amwell Road, noticed smoke coming from the barn on the property shortly before 5 p.m. Christmas Eve.
”The Kosinski sisters ran downstairs and notified the Turek family,” the lieutenant said.
Piotr Turek, 46, found a 50-foot section of the mostly wood barn on fire.
Police and firefighters arrived to find the structure heavily involved in flames. Firefighters shuttled water to the scene from the King’s Path neighborhood, using tanker trucks. King’s Path is just east of Hopewell Borough, off Route 518.
The barn was approximately 130 long by 30 feet wide. The fire destroyed a 50-foot section of the barn that housed chickens and a goat.
A small storage area used to repair furniture also was damaged, police said.
”The remainder of the building that stores tools and other equipment was undamaged due to the quick response of firefighters,” Lt. Maloney said.
The Hopewell Fire Department, under the command of Chief William Springer, responded, and was assisted by the Pennington Fire Company, Union Fire Company, Lawrenceville Fire Company, and Montgomery Fire Companies 1 and 2. The Hopewell Emergency Medical Unit stood by at the scene.
Those investigating the fire include the township police, Hopewell Valley Bureau of Fire Safety, Mercer County fire marshal and the Mercer County prosecutor’s office.

