OCEAN TOWNSHIP — A township resident succumbed to injuries she sustained in a fire at her apartment on Christmas night.
On Dec. 25 at approximately 10:49 p.m., police received a 911 call from a tenant of the Middlebrook at Monmouth apartments who said a fire alarm was sounding in Building 26R, Garden Drive, and that the caller also smelled smoke coming from the apartment, according to a report issued by the Ocean Township Police Department.
The caller then called back and stated that flames were in an apartment, where an occupant was still believed to be inside, according to the police report.
The Oakhurst Fire Department and township police were immediately dispatched to the scene. Officers who arrived first at the scene could not immediately make entry into the apartment due to the intense smoke and heat of the fire.
The Oakhurst Fire Department arrived and was able to ventilate some of the smoke and heat, allowing firefighter Earl Alexander to enter the apartment, according to officials.
Alexander located the occupant on the floor in the living room area and carried her to safety with the assistance of firefighters Stewart Newman, Larry Campbell and Keith Finkelstein, according to reports.
The woman, who was conscious at the time, had sustained serious burns to her body and was transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune in critical condition. She later succumbed to her injuries, according to township police.
The fire was extinguished and contained to the apartment involved. Residents of the other apartments in the building were temporarily evacuated for a few hours until the scene was safe and secure, according to police.
F
ire Marshal Timothy J. Smith determined
that the fire started in a chair in the living room area of the apartment. It was not known at the time if the woman was sitting in that chair when the fire occurred, according to reports.
Smith is continuing the investigation with the assistance of the Police Criminal Investigation Bureau, the county Fire Marshal’s Office and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.