Fire Engulfs home on Lenox Road in Wayne Township

WAYNE, NJ – Tragedy struck homeowners on Lenox Road in Wayne on Saturday just before 10:00pm. A Wayne police officer was on patrol when he saw the orange glow of fire through the windows of the house. But so had neighbors, and calls to 911 began coming in. A small army of Wayne’s Bravest, the volunteers of the local fire department converged on the home and spent four hours battling the raging inferno that ultimately sent two firefighters to the hospital and took the life of the family’s pet.

“At approximately 9:59pm, Companies #3 and #5 were dispatched to a working structure fire at 52 Lenox Road,” said Wayne Township Fire Commissioner, Frank Velardi. “Due to reports of visible fire in the rear of the structure, the call was upgraded, and Company #2 was added.”

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Verladi explained that a police officer saw the flames while on patrol and went to the house to make sure everyone was out, just as calls were coming into 911. The officer’s report of a working fire was what got company #2 added to the call.

The first chief to arrive on scene was Barry Turner of Company #5. He was the incident commander and told TAPinto that there was “heavy fire from both the rear and sides of the house,” and that his first thoughts were about the residents.

“I checked with the police officers who were on scene,” he said. “They had reported that there had been no one in the house, but there was a dog still inside.”

Turner wanted to rescue that dog if there was any chance, and ordered a “multi-line” attack on the front of the house.

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Chief John Annoloro of Company #3 led a crew from engine 5-1 in the initial attack, the goal to push their way through that heat, leading with a hose, while arriving crews began drenching the house.

To understand the level of heat coming off the burning house, Chief Turner said that the radiant heat of the flames had started melting the neighbor’s siding, causing it to catch fire. They were able to soak that side of the neighbor’s house and attack the huge flames relentlessly on that side, preventing a second house fire.

In the front, the initial push was not successful, the flames were too large, and the heat was “too heavy.” Tuner had a crew use a “deck gun to help “darken down the fire,” before Annoloro and the 5-1 crew were able to get close, then, determinedly get inside. Above them a crew comprised of firefighters from Engine 3-2 and Tower-3 dragged a heavy hose up a ladder to the second floor and went in through a window, disappearing into the heavy, black smoke.

More fire trucks kept arriving, the scene chaotic with flashing lights.

Volunteers from the Wayne Memorial First Aid Squad, who set up a mobile rehab to monitor firefighters exposed to heat and smoke for too long. Several firefighters were monitored and two were treated and transported to Chilton Memorial Hospital. According to Turner, one was released, while a second was admitted with a “leg injury,” that “may require surgery.”

The interior crews were “making good progress,” according to Turner, but then he learned that there “appeared to be a gas-fed fire in the basement.”  Plus, the roof on one part of the house had begun to collapse. The long-experienced fire chief knew his strategy had to change and pulled the crews out of the house to reassess the situation.

PSE&G was called up and was able to, eventually, shutoff the gas to the house. In the meantime, an aerial truck, using a “large-diameter hose” shot thousands of gallons of water on the flaming house. Crews with hoses surrounded the house and, for about 10-minutes, did their best to drown the fire.

At that point, they had the fire down to a few hot spots, and another interior attack was called in.

Annoloro led the way again and when asked what happened, he, very matter-of-factly, said, “Then we went back inside. And put the fire out.”  -- Like that next step was easy.

All they had to do was go into a still-burning, hot, smoky, dark, soaking wet house at night – one that had been damaged by a fire so large that it had engulfed the entire structure. All while wearing heavy gear, face masks and breathing through tanks. Simple.

Just another day at the office for Wayne’s Bravest.

Annaloro estimated that their second interior attack lasted about 15 minutes before they had knocked the fire down to some sort of control. Eventually, the flames were gone, and the job turned to overhaul – looking for pockets of fire, embers, anything that could cause the structure to reignite.

All told, from the time of the initial call, the volunteers of Wayne’s Fire Department and Memorial First Aid Squad, along with Wayne’s police department were on scene for nearly four hours.

Photo Credit: the Wayne Fire Department

The exhausted crews were finally gone by 1:50am on Sunday morning, their hearts heavy.

“My heart goes out to the family that lost everything in that fire,” said Chief Turner. “We tried our best, but with the amount of fire, we couldn’t get in to save the dog.”

Mayor Chris Vergano, who lives “a block-and-a-half away,” was on hand before the first fire trucks arrived, he watched Wayne’s first responders working seamlessly together, and told TAPinto that “he couldn’t be prouder.”

“The most amazing part for me was, this was a Saturday night at 10:45 at night and I look up and down Lenox Road and I count nine fire trucks, two ambulances and an ambulance bus, and I realize that these are all volunteers; every single one of them,” he said. “And all these people just left their houses, or wherever they came from, and they are risking their lives to take care of fellow members of our community. So, it was almost breathtaking to think about the volunteers of our town.”

He confirmed that on most calls, firefighters are not risking their lives, but on calls like this one they “absolutely were. No question about it. There were flames coming out of that house that were…Did you see the photos online? It was much worse in person.”

From Fire Company #5’s Facebook Page: “Thank you to all Wayne Fire Companies @waynefirstaidsquad @waynepolicenj for excellent work all around. Thanks also to Pequannock @ptfd_2 , Lincoln Park @lincoln_park_hose_co2 and Pompton Lakes @plfd_engine_51 for providing mutual aid coverage of our firehouses.”

“Our hearts go out to our neighbors who lost their home and beloved pet last night.”

The cause of the fire is currently under investigation by the Wayne Fire Bureau.

Photo Credit: the Wayne Fire Department

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