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EAST WINDSOR: Early morning fire injures fireman, leaves resident homeless

By Amy Batista, Special Writer
   EAST WINDSOR — A Robbinsville firefighter was sent to the hospital for a head injury while battling a second-alarm townhouse blaze early Thursday morning, which left the resident homeless, according to police.
   It broke out around 1:41 a.m. at a residence on Madison Drive in Twin Rivers.
   ”We were dispatched for a working structure fire on Madison Drive; a two-story townhouse end unit,” Chief Barry Rashkin of the East Windsor Volunteer Fire Company No. 2 said in an email.
   The chief added, “Deputy Chief Eric Coran signed on he was responding. While responding, he hears on his radio it is a confirmed (structure fire); he quickly upgraded to our second alarm.”
   As the chief and deputy chief arrived on the scene simultaneously, “heavy fire” was showing through the front, rear and side of the unit, according to Chief Rashkin.
   The East Windsor Police Department evacuated the entire row of townhouses adjacent to the unit on fire, Chief Rashkin said.
   ”Officers observed flames coming from the second-floor rear of the residence, which sustained significant fire damage to the upstairs portion,” Lt. Richard Bernstein said in a press release.
   According to police, one resident was home at the time of the fire and was “evacuated safely after awakening to the smell of smoke.”
   Lt. Bernstein said, “The fire appears to have originated in a rear bedroom.”
   The residence was declared “uninhabitable,” according to police.
   The East Windsor and Cranbury police departments, East Windsor Volunteer Fire Company No. 1, East Windsor Volunteer Fire Company No. 2, East Windsor Volunteer Rescue Squad No. 1, East Windsor Volunteer Rescue Squad No. 2, Hightstown Engine Co. No. 1, Monroe Fire District 2, Monroe Township EMS, Robbinsville Township Fire Department, Plainsboro Fire Company, West Windsor Fire Department, Cranbury Volunteer Fire Company, Millstone Township Fire Company and Groveville Fire Department responded.
   According to Chief Rashkin, six hose lines were used to extinguish the fire, which took one hour to “bring under control.”
   The fire was contained to the one unit.
   Firefighters had to hook up and run hoses from the main street, Twin Rivers Drive, in order to flow water to put out the fire.
   The Mercer County fire coordinator was on scene during the fire.
   ”During the efforts to extinguish the fire, a member of the Robbinsville Fire Department was struck by a hose in the head and was transported to RWJ (Robert Wood Johnson) Hamilton Hospital for treatment of a cut received during the incident,” Lt. Bernstein said.
   According to Chief Rashkin, the injury was minor and nonlife threatening.
   The East Windsor Township Police Department and the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office are conducting an investigation into the cause of the fire.