By Katie Wagner, Staff Writer
MONTGOMERY — A cooking fire Monday afternoon at the Princeton Hill Apartment complex on Blue Spring Road left four units uninhabitable.
Flames were coming from four windows of a first-floor apartment in one of the complex’s buildings when firefighters arrived at the scene, according to Gene Keller, deputy chief of Montgomery Fire No. 2. The unit that was the source of the fire was unoccupied and the remaining 11 units of the building were evacuated.
The tenant of the first-floor apartment, Olivia Mendoza, 27, advised police and fire officials she has been cooking on the stove which began to spark, according to police. Ms. Mendoza said she grabbed her five-year-old daughter and one-year-old son and fled from the apartment.
Fire companies from Montgomery, Rocky Hill, Princeton and South Brunswick were able to get the fire under control within 30 minutes and contain the blaze to the first floor unit.
Montgomery Police Acting Lt. James Curry said repairs will need to be made to Ms. Mendoza’s apartment and one of the second-floor apartments in the building before their tenants can return home. The first floor apartment was gutted by the flames and the second-floor apartment suffered extensive heat and smoke damage.
Residents of the other two units deemed uninhabitable were evacuated as a precautionary measure to allow the units to be ventilated, Lt. Curry said. Deputy Chief Keller said on Tuesday that residents of these units were scheduled to return to their building that day.
The Central Jersey Chapter of the Red Cross responded and assisted families from three of the four units, including providing temporary housing for two of the families said Red Cross spokeswoman Diane Concannon.
Montgomery Emergency Medical Services also responded, but no injuries were reported.
Deputy Chief Keller said the fire had been called in by cell phone, which resulted in a delayed response to the scene.
