By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
WEST WINDSOR – A paper towel that came into contact with an electric hot plate used for cooking was the cause of a fire at a Washington Road home Saturday afternoon that sent a 64-year-old occupant of the house to the Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro with burns, according to West Windsor Township officials.
The 64-year-old victim suffered second-degree burns to his left knee and both hands as he tried to put out the fire, which was reported at 3:18 p.m. The blaze caused heavy damage to the house in the 100 block of Washington Road. It was later deemed to be uninhabitable by the West Windsor Township Construction Division.
The fire began in an area on the third floor of the house that had been set up to accommodate a cooking area for the victim’s 30-year-old son, who lives in the house, according to West Windsor Township Emergency Services Director James Yates.
The son had been cooking and a paper towel had come into contact with the electric hot plate, Mr. Yates said. The son thought he had put out the fire and tossed the paper towel into a bag containing combustible material, he said. The bag ignited.
Family members who were on the first floor of the house discovered the fire, Mr. Yates said. The father went up to the third floor to look for his son, but the son had left the house before the fire broke out. The father sustained burn injuries when he tried to put out the fire.
The fire was concentrated in the southeast corner of the house, police said. The first police officers on the scene found heavy smoke and flames coming from that corner of the house, according to the West Windsor Township Police Department.
Mr. Yates said it took firefighters about 30 minutes to bring the fire under control. Washington Road was closed between Wallingford Road and Fairview Avenue for about three hours during firefighting efforts and the aftermath.
The fire occurred in the jurisdiction of the Princeton Junction Fire Co., which was assisted by firefighters from the West Windsor Fire Co., the East Windsor Fire Co., the Princeton Fire Department, the Plainsboro Fire Co., and the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.
The West Windsor Township Emergency Services, the West Windsor Township Police Department, the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad and the Plainsboro Rescue Squad also assisted at the scene, according to police.
