The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
One person was injured Oct. 27 in an early morning fire that displaced two families.
Police said the fire at the Matilda Avenue two-family home was reported at about 3:25 a.m.
When police arrived, they saw heavy smoke coming from the house and determined that all the residents and pets were out of the building.
Police said a 57-year-old man, who they did not identify, was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick for treatment of a burn to his hand suffered while trying to extinguish the fire.
An investigation revealed that the fire’s probably cause was a stove that was left on in one of the homes.
Fire fighters from East Franklin Volunteer Fire, Community Volunteer Fire, Somerset Fire and Rescue, Middlebush Volunteer Fire, and Franklin Park Volunteer Fire responded, as did emergency medical personnel from RWJUH, police said.
Authorities declared the building uninhabitable, police said. Staff from the township Office of Social Services and the American Red Cross placed the nine people in area hotels for the next few days.
