By: centraljersey.com
A Lambertville-Hopewell Road (Route 518) home suffered severe damage in a Friday morning blaze of unknown origin, said Hopewell Township police Chief George Meyer.
The fire broke out shortly before 9 a.m. in the residence of Steven and Heather Walters.
"Mrs. Walters’ mother, Bonnie Bray, was alone and asleep in the house when she was awakened by the fire alarm going off," Chief Meyer said.
"She saw smoke and flames in the kitchen as she fled out the rear of the house. She was uninjured."
It was at 8:55 p.m. that township police received the report of the house fire at 254 Lambertville-Hopewell Road. "The first officer to arrive on scene, minutes later, found the house heavily involved in fire with flames already through the roof," Chief Meyer said.
The Hopewell Fire Department, under the command of Chief Joseph Novak, responded along with Union Fire Company, Pennington Fire Company, West Amwell Fire Company, Lambertville Fire Company and tanker trucks from Hunterdon, Somerset and Bucks counties.
"Firefighters were unable to attack the fire from the interior due to the intensity of it when they arrived," Chief Meyer said. "They used tanker trucks to shuttle water to the scene from a pond on Route 31, near Route 654. It took more than an hour before the fire was declared under control."
Ambulances from Hopewell Emergency Medical Unit and Pennington First Aid Squad stood by at the scene, but there were no injuries. The entire home was heavily damaged by the fire, Chief Meyer said.
He added that the cause of the fire has not been determined and is under investigation by the Hopewell Township Police Department, The Hopewell Valley Fire Marshal’s Office and the Mercer County prosecutor’s office.

