Fire destroys 4 vehicles in Toms River
A camper engulfed in flames on the property of 1174 Wake Forest Drive in Toms River late Sunday afternoon. (Photo courtesy of John P. Melfa)
A fire ripped through multiple vehicles on a residential property in Toms River late yesterday afternoon.
According to Shawn Wainwright, the homeowner’s son, the fire spread quickly after igniting around 4 p.m at 1174 Wake Forest Drive in the township’s East Dover section.
“My dad (Stanley) was starting a car that had been sitting for a while,” he said. “The car backfired and caught some leaves on fire and it spread rapidly,” adding that the fire burnt two campers, a car, and the Ocean County String Band bus “to nothing but a shell.”
Neighborhood resident Tom Kosensky commented on JSHN’s breaking news report that he heard “back-to-back ‘booms’ about five seconds apart.”
“It was startling,” he wrote. “The next thing you know, there’s smoke flying over my trees and a fire truck rushing to the scene. Scary stuff.”
Wainwright said his father suffered “a few” first-degree burns on his hand and arms and was treated and released from a local hospital yesterday evening.
The house’s aluminum siding prevented the structure from becoming engulfed in flames, he said.
The East Dover and Silverton fire companies responded.
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