S.B. fire leaves 16 homeless

SOUTH BRUNSWICK - Fifty-five firefighters from four different fire companies put out a fire early Saturday morning at the Royal Oaks apartment complex, off Henderson Road near Route 1.

No one was injured in the blaze.

"It's a credit to the firefighters," said South Brunswick Police Detective Jim Ryan. "For no one to get injured in a fire in the dead of winter in the middle of the night, it's a miracle."

The fire started in a utility closet area and caused severe damage to two of the rooms in the apartment. According to Ryan, when the fire was first discovered by a man on the first floor, he ran upstairs to wake a couple and their baby so they could get out of the building.

The fire companies that arrived on the scene were from Monmouth Junction, Kingston, Kendall Park and Brookview, which is in East Brunswick.

It took about 30 minutes to control the fire. Ryan said there appears to be no foul play involved in the fire and all signs point to the cause being mechanical in nature.

The 16 residents, 10 adults and six children were displaced and left homeless because the fire's damage was near the electrical connection to the building and power had to be turned off.

- Chris Murino