Firefighters rescue man trapped in burning apt.
BY CHRIS GAETANO
Staff Writer

SOUTH BRUNSWICK - Firefighters put out an apartment blaze and saved a man trapped inside on Friday.

The firefighters responded to a two-alarm structure fire at the Kingston Terrace apartment building. Kingston Volunteer Fire Company Capt. Walter Lane was among the first to respond to the scene along with firefighters James Luck and Jaime Pineiro. The Monmouth Junction and Plainsboro fire departments also responded.

Firefighters arrived to find smoke pouring from the second floor of the burning building. Told by horrified neighbors as well as the building's property manager that someone was still trapped inside, they knew that they had to act quickly. Hose in hand, they advanced.

"We used an attack line to the second floor, and the fire was knocked down within 10 minutes," said Lane.

Afterward, firefighters searched for the man who had been trapped in the blaze, using a thermal imaging camera, and found him lying unconscious on his living-room floor. Previously, another resident had attempted to rescue him and needed to be treated for smoke inhalation.

Lane, with firefighters James Robin and Dennis Shennard, went into the apartment, by then full of inky black smoke, to retrieve him.

"There was smoke down to the floor - zero visibility in that apartment," Lane said.

While visibility was a problem, they were able to find the victim and get him out of the building. He was immediately attended to by members of the Kendall Park First Aid Squad before being rushed first to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, and then transferred to the burn unit at Saint Barnabas Hospital, Livingston. According to South Brunswick police, he is listed in critical condition.

The fire is still being investigated by the South Brunswick Fire Safety Department, but according to the acting fire marshal for the township, Alan Laird, the fire is believed to have been caused by "careless smoking."