JACKSON — A Jan. 1 house fire that injured three people is under investigation by the Jackson Bureau of Fire Prevention, Fire District No. 2, and is not considered suspicious.
Three individuals were injured in a structural fire at a home on Thompson Bridge Road in the Cassville section of Jackson. Officials said the victims sustained burns.
In a press release, Fire Inspector Wallace W. Jamison of the Jackson Bureau of Fire Prevention District No. 2 said that at 7:31 a.m. Jan. 1, fire stations 56 and 54 dispatched apparatus to a structure fire at 58 Thompson Bridge Road. The residence is the home of Peter M. and Carroll Dufner.
Upon their arrival at the home, the firefighters discovered three victims, Peter M. Dufner Sr. and Peter M. Dufner Jr., who sustained what officials said were minor injuries, and Cindy Dufner Johnson, who sustained second- and third-degree burns to her lower extremities on about 20 percent of her body.
The two men were treated at the scene and refused further medical care, according to officials.
Johnson was transported by Quality Medical Transport to Jersey Shore UniversityMedical Center, Neptune. Officials said a medical helicopter was unable to fly due to inclement weather.
After Johnson was stabilized at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, she was transferred to The Burn Center at St. Barnabas, Livingston. A spokesman at St. Barnabas said Johnson was in stable condition as of Jan. 5.
Officials said there were no working smoke detectors in the home at the time of the fire. The occupants of the home were alerted to the fire by Peter Dufner Sr., who smelled smoke and started yelling for his family to leave the residence.
Peter Dufner Jr., whose bedroom is on the lower level of the house adjacent to the room where the fire originated, heard his father’s calls and woke to find the lower level of the home filled with smoke and fire, Jamison said.
Peter Dufner Jr. found his sister, Cindy, on a chair in the room where the fire originated and pulled her from the home, officials said.
The fire companies that responded to the incident were from Cassville, Jackson Mills, Jackson No. 1, Whitesville, New Egypt and Millstone Township.
The fire company incident commander at the scene was Station 56 Assistant Chief Adam Poppe.