Ocean Grove, Friday, Feb 6, 2015 © Fred Ohleth.
By Yvette Blackman, Blogfinger contributing writer
White plumes of smoke rose above the Village Kloset Friday afternoon, three hours after a fast-moving fire that started in an apartment above the small store quickly spread to several other apartments in the building, authorities said. One firefighter suffered minor injuries and witnesses said three dogs were rescued from the building.
The fire, which started shortly after 3 p.m., left four businesses and five apartments with smoke and heat damage, in addition to the attic of a house on neighboring Heck Avenue, said Michael Bascom, Emergency Management Coordinator for Neptune Township.
The roof of the three-story building housing the Village Kloset collapsed, Bascom said, but the fire was largely contained to the building housing the women’s clothing and accessories store.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
Temperatures that dipped just below freezing made the firefighters’ job a difficult one.
“We have a lot of old structures close to each other,” Bascom said. “Roads are frozen, the water is frozen, and firefighters are dealing with cold temperatures.”
An elderly man who lived two floors above the Village Kloset at No. 50 Main was taking shelter at the Youth Temple, waiting for the Red Cross.
“I saw the fire coming up from the apartment underneath me, and the smoke alarm went off,” said the man, who asked not to be identified. “I’m homeless now.”
Yvonne Paradiso, owner of Yvonne’s Café, appeared devastated as she stood across the street watching firefighters turn their hoses on the building she had spent the last couple years renovating. The café, which is open year-round with about eight employees, last year added outdoor heat lamps to encourage the late summer crowds to linger into the cool evenings.
“It took a really long time to get this done,” she said, her voice cracking as her eyes glistened with tears.
We own the house behind Yvonne’s Cafe. Our sweet, little home survived thanks to all the fire departments who worked so hard to keep the fire from spreading to Heck Avenue. Thanks also to all our friends and neighbors who kept us up to date until we arrived on the scene. We have substantial water damage but that can be fixed. We are so grateful that the results weren’t worse. So sorry to the businesses that were affected. Liz and Joe Rhoades
Hey Finger, nice coverage of this event. Thanks for keeping us informed.
Many thanks to the brave citizens, firemen and local reporters and photographers helping us out of towners stay in touch. Great job Paul and Eileen! So sorry for those experiencing this damage and loss of business, home, belongings and lifework.
Thank God for the amazing firemen. They really know what they’re doing…that blaze could have burned the whole block…Heck and Main.
Thanks to you and Eileen for getting the info out. So sad for all those affected by this blaze.
Blogfinger got hit with a veritable deluge of photos and information, and we were dealing with slow Wi-Fi. It’s amazing how many of you helped us get the news out. PLease continue sending updates and new facts.
And it’s also impressive how many of you tuned in here for OG fire news. We had 4,200 hits yesterday.
Apologies to any reporters whose work was not posted. Today I hope to pick up the pieces and add data to the mix. That’s one of the beauties of the blogosphere, although traditional journalists might raise their eyebrows. Thanks to asst. editor Eileen Goldfinger who made sure that our efforts moved as fast as possible. —–Paul
Thank God for our heroic firefighters.
Thank you to all the citizen reporters and photographers who proved the Blogfinger model of an information sharing, hyper-local news and information web site. Wonderful community spirit shining bright in the face of another terrible fire in the Grove.
Great job of reporting Yvette. So glad to have you back on Blogfinger. Thank you.
Our thoughts & prayers are with you all don there, Ocean Grove is like our second home. We love it there.
our thoughts and prayers are with you. Ocean Grove is like our second home. We love it there.