02-04-08 North Brunswick Structure Fire

Flames take home in North Brunswick
Home News Tribune Online 02/5/08

By TOM CAIAZZA
STAFF WRITER
tcaiazza@eastbrun.gannett.com
NORTH BRUNSWICK — A fire gutted a single-family home on Axel Avenue early Monday morning, displacing two residents and damaging adjacent houses.

The fire began around 12:45 a.m. between the first floor and the basement of the house, according to North Brunswick Fire Marshal Craig Snediker.

Snediker said Peter and Mickie Manzione were home when the fire broke out but got out safely. No firefighters were injured, he said.

Next-door neighbor Teresa Barkelew, whose home sustained cosmetic damage to the side facing the fire, said she was astounded at how quickly the fire department arrived.

"They responded so fast," she said. "I was amazed. There was so much activity so quickly."

She said she did not even know there was a fire until Peter Manzione knocked on her door, and asked her to call the fire department.

She and her husband, Runyon, credited the swift response by the fire department with saving their home.

"When it comes to fire, you never think it can happen to you," Runyon Barkelew said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation; Snediker would not say whether investigators thought the fire was suspicious in nature.

"We're not sure yet," he said. "We've got multiple agencies investigating. We're trying to narrow it down."

Early reports indicated a gas leak may have caused or exacerbated the fire, but Snediker said there was no indication that gas had anything to do with the fire.

"There were no traces of any gas leaks," he said.

Paul Kayne, a longtime neighborhood resident, said he heard popping sounds around the time the fire started. He looked out of the window of his house and saw the entire sky was lit up.

"We could see it from the house," he said.

When he first heard the popping sounds, Kayne thought it was something other than a house fire.

"It sounded like it was fireworks," he said. "I thought someone was celebrating the Giants."

The Manziones, who lived in the damaged house for more than two decades, were given food, clothing and lodging from the Red Cross of Central New Jersey.