Fire at Munroe Towers sends Seven to the Hospital
BY TOM CARDINALE
A raging fire at the Munroe Towers in Asbury Park Thursday morning has left seven people, including five firefighters, hospitalized and at least one apartment destroyed. Hundreds of other residents have also been displaced from their apartments.
Asbury Park Firefighters responded to 610 Munroe Ave. at 11:20 a.m. Thursday Sept. 20 to find an apartment on the fourteenth floor of the 15 story high-rise’s west side engulfed in flames. One resident, Sunovia Williams, 80, was found unconscious in the apartment. She was transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center but her condition is unknown at this time. Her husband, Albert Williams, 92, was not home at the time of the fire but was also transported to the hospital to be with his wife. An unidentified juvenile from another apartment was also transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center for smoke inhalation.
Asbury Park firefighters enlisted the aid of numerous fire companies from surrounding communities in fighting the blaze, which Fire Inspector Garrett Giberson called “an intense fire” with an “exorbitant amount of fuel” in the apartment. Fort Monmouth dispatched three companies to help in controlling the fire, while Neptune sent two companies. Allenhurst Fire Department also responded and Wannamassa Fire Department provided cover over Asbury Park while their own company dealt with the blaze. Five firefighters were sent to the hospital, however, their names were not released. Two were members of the Asbury Park company, two were from Neptune, and one was a member of Fort Monmouth’s department. All were being treated for smoke inhalation and exhaustion.
The top three floors of the building’s west side were evacuated and the fire did vent through the windows, moving onto the fifteenth floor into the unit directly above its point of origin. Giberson said the fire was fueled by a “large accumulation of combustibles” in the apartment, mostly the residents’ belongings. He said this also made reaching the victim, and the fire, more difficult on the firefighters, who were also forced to climb the 14 floors of stairs to the apartment because the height of the building prevented the use of aerial trucks.
“High rise fires are always tough for firefighters,” Giberson said, “They may or may not be able to use elevators and we could not use aerial trucks due to the height.”
Neighbors and other Munroe Towers residents said they initially smelled the smoke before seeing the flames.
“I smelled something so I came out and I saw the smoke,” said Lottie Kubaitis, who has lived across from the location of the towers since 1947, “and then everyone just started coming.”
Vivian Evans, who lives on the fourth floor of the complexs west side, was out of the building at the time but also reported seeing the smoke.
“I was walking outside and I saw smoke and next thing, I see flames,” Evans said.
Gayle Miller was inside her tenth floor apartment in the towers when she first noticed the smell of smoke.
“I smelled smoke and went out on the balcony and saw the flames coming from the fourteenth floor. I just got dressed and ran out,” she said.
The fire was declared under control by authorities at 1:48 p.m., according to Giberson. However, he could not comment on how long it would be before the unknown number of displaced residents would be able to return to their apartments. The Red Cross and Salvation Army were on the scene to help them.
Giberson said earlier reports of residents trapped on the upper floors and roof were false but did say the State Police did dispatch a helicopter in the event people needed to be evacuated from the roof.
Giberson said the building, which he reports was last inspected in November 2006, was equipped with a standing pipe and sprinkler system, although the sprinklers are only in the hallways to contain a fire that may start in an apartment and keep it from spreading through the halls.
Giberson could not give any comment on what may have caused this morning’s blaze, pending the ongoing investigation.
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