WOODBRIDGE — A fundraising effort to secure donations to assist the more than 30 residents of the Hillside Garden Apartments left homeless after a fire swept through the Sunny View Oval apartment building in the Keasbey section of the township has been established, according to Mayor John E. McCormac.
The post-fire investigation identified four children ages 4, 11, 14 and 18, who were displaced by the fire, officials said.
The Keasbey Fire Department received a call for an apartment fire with possible entrapment around 10:40 p.m. on Dec. 4. Arriving units, including the Keasbey and Hopelawn fire departments, encountered heavy fire through the roof of the garden-style apartment building with multiple people waiting to be rescued from balconies, according to a release the department put out on social media.
Members of the Keasbey Fire Department and Woodbridge police officers made rescues of people in the apartment buildings. The roof collapsed in several places and the fire was under control around 2 a.m. on Dec. 5, according to fire officials.
Woodbridge and Perth Amboy fire departments provided mutual aid. The Woodbridge Police Department assisted and rescued occupants from adjacent apartments. Units from Fords, Iselin districts 9 and 11, Perth Amboy, Melrose, Metuchen, Avenel and East Brunswick assisted at scene. Colonia and South Amboy covered Keasbey and Hopelawn firehouses, according to officials.
The Woodbridge Community Charity Fund is in place to accept donations of cash, checks and gift cards; the greatest need is for monetary donations and gift cards for food, clothes and household items (kitchen, bath, bedroom). No donations of clothing or household items will be accepted.
Checks should be made payable to the Woodbridge Community Charity Fund. Donations can be dropped off at the mayor’s office on the third floor of the Woodbridge Municipal Building, 1 Main St., or mailed to Woodbridge Community Charity Fund, c/o Office of the Mayor, Woodbridge Municipal Building, 1 Main St., Woodbridge 07095.
For more information, call 732-602-6015 or email [email protected].