No One Hurt in Detached Garage Fire in Point Boro

It took firefighters about an hour to fully extinguish a raging fire in a detached garage at 541 Summit Drive early Tuesday morning, said Point Borough Fire Chief Dan Mulligan.

No one was hurt in the blaze that destroyed the garage, damaged a car that had been parked outside, but near, the garage, and also caused minor heat damage to the exterior of the home, Mulligan said.

The Ocean County Fire Marshal's office is investigating the cause of the blaze. Summit is off Herbertsville Road.

Tenants living next to the garage called 911 at about 2:35 a.m. and about 35 borough firefighters and the Herbertsville fire department responded to the scene, Mulligan said.

The owner of the house and garage do not live there.

The fire had sent "extremely heavy smoke going down the street," Mulligan said. A neighbor saw the smoke, walked to the home next to the garage, banged on the door and alerted the tenants, Mulligan said.

When firefighters arrived on the scene, there was heavy fire behind the garage door, so firefighters removed the door and battled the blaze, Mulligan said.

The Herbertsville fire department responded as a "fast team," which is a team called to working fires to provide assistance, standing by in case any firefighters need rescuing, Mulligan said.

The fire was brought under control in about half an hour, but it took about another half an hour to fully extinguish the blaze, with most of the crews clearing the scene around 4 a.m. Mulligan said.

Point Borough First Aid Squad also responded to the scene to provide "rehab" to firefighters, which means checking their vital signs and giving them water.

There were a few propane tanks, such as those used with home barbecue grills, that were removed from the garage by firefighters.

"But we don't think the tanks were associated with the cause of the fire," Mulligan said.

The names of the tenants, owners and whether the tenants had been sleeping with the windows closed (and air conditioning on) were not immediately known.