PRINCETON: Car fire causes evacuations

By Charley Falkenburg, Staff Writer
   When Jaime Geter and her friend left Chuck’s Spring Street Café in downtown Princeton, they found their car in flames — resulting in business and residential evacuations on Saturday afternoon, according to police.
   Police said the 1999 green Dodge Stratus belonged to Joann Geter, Ms. Geter’s mother.
   Ms. Geter and her friend had left the car unattended at a meter east of Witherspoon Street on Spring Street to go into the restaurant for a quick bite, but left after 15 minutes after noticing a commotion outside. When they got outside, they saw smoke and fire coming from their car, which quickly became engulfed in flames.
   After getting multiple calls to the station, the Princeton Borough police arrived at 2:35 p.m. and tried to put the fire out with an extinguisher that was in the cruiser. The flames were still building even after the extinguisher was empty, requiring the assistance from the Princeton Hook and Ladder and fire departments from Plainsboro, South Brunswick and Kingston.
   Borough police Lt. Sharon Papp said they closed down Witherspoon Street to both vehicle and pedestrian traffic.
   As the firefighters worked, patrons and residents were evacuated from the nearby businesses located at mixed-use building at 33 Witherspoon Street such as Tico’s Eatery and Juice Bar, Mike’s Barber Shop, Gloria Nilson’s Realtors, Gateway Funding Diversified Mortgage Services and Biltmore Capital Advisors.
   Princeton Township Fire Official Ron DiLapo said the firefighters also helped ventilate smoke that had gotten into the building.
   Jon Haug, the owner of Savory Spice Shop, said his business was not evacuated and that a lot of people were lined on the street outside, watching the excitement.
   ”We were actually open and had a few customers come in,” said Mr. Haug. “But everyone was waiting for something else to happen.”
   There were no injuries, but the car and its contents were destroyed. The car was towed from the scene.
   The heat from the fire caused one of the glass windows at Tico’s to crack, melted the meter where the car was parked and charred the surrounding pavement a little bit, according to the police.
   Mr. DiLapo said the fire took about 15 minutes to put out and that the fire was under control at 3:01. Police reopened Witherspoon Street at 5:43 p.m.
   Due to the extensive damage, Mr. DiLapo said the fire’s cause could not be determined, but he suspected an engine malfunction.
   ”The fire started in the engine and spread to the rest of the car,” he said. “But because of the damage, there’s no way to tell exactly.”
   The police confirmed the nature of the fire was not suspicious.
   Lt. Papp said the owner had been having mechanical problems with the car.
   ”The owner said the thermostat was replaced a couple months ago to stop the car from overheating, but that some smoke would still come from under the hood and then dissipate,” said Lt. Papp. “Unfortunately, this time it started to smoke and then caught on fire.”