BELMAR — The victim of a fire that engulfed a three-story home on Surf Avenue Wednesday, has been identified by the Momouth County Prosecutor’s Office as Frances N. Colie, 92.
An investigation into the cause is being conducted by the Belmar Fire Bureau and Belmar Police Department. The fire scene was between 17th and 18th avenues.
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Among the first persons arriving at the scene were Belmar Borough Administrator Kevin Kane, the mayor’s personal assistant John Walsh and Frank Sementa, co-owner of nearby D’jais.
As a volunteer firefighter for 15 years, Mr. Kane said that his part was to keep everybody who were present within the vicinity safe while they were waiting for the fire department to come.
“I haven’t been that close to a fire that intense for a long time but instincts takes over and the immediate concern is for the safety of everybody in that immediate area. Then you let the professionals take over when they get there,” Mr. Kane said.
“Somewhere around four, John Walsh and I were just leaving a meeting at D’jais ..[when we] smelled smoke and turned the corner. So we went running down there, and we were the first ones on the scene,” Mr. Kane said.
“The wind was blowing towards the east, probably southeast direction,” Mr. Kane added.
He said a safety protocol was executed to protect the people who were present at the scene as well as from keeping the fire from spreading to neighboring houses.
“The fire department did a great job when they got there, saving the houses on both side because they could [have] easily [been affected]. The way the intensity of the fire [was] and the way the wind was blowing could have easily [affected] more structures. [They] could have been involved,” Mr. Kane explained.
Among the responding fire units were Company 87-3 of Belmar, the mutual aid partners were: Avon FD, Spring Lake Heights FD, Spring Lake FD, South Wall FD, Glendola FD, West Belmar FD, Sea Girt FD, Asbury Park FD, Neptune City FD, Wanamassa FD, Manasquan FD, and Neptune FD .
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