Submitted by Frank Reilly, Stirling firefighter
Stirling and Millington firefighters were called to fight a serious garage fire at 920 Meyersville Rd., Gillette on Thursday evening, July 20th, at 8:40 p.m. that was called in by a passing motorist. The police arrived on scene first and reported a heavy fire condition. 28 Stirling firefighters responded within seconds since most had just finished inspecting all of the firefighting equipment on each fire truck, a task performed at least monthly. Within four minutes the Stirling firefighters had arrived at the fire.
As they approached the burning garage they could see the sky was illuminated red from the flames that had burned through the roof and were shooting into the air. By this time the garage, which was attached to the house, was fully engulfed in flames. Inside the garage was a 2016 Ford F-150 pick-up truck that was destroyed by the fire.
Two major concerns were stopping fire from spreading into the attached house and destroying the house or spreading to the adjacent heavily wooded area. Some firefighters immediately attacked the garage fire while others entered the house searching for fire that may have spread from the garage. Within 20 minutes of arrival Fire Chief Philips reported the “bulk of the fire is knocked down and we’re working on extension (of the fire from the garage to the house)”. But that didn’t mean the fire was out, the heaviest part of the fire was under control.
Firefighters inspecting the interior of the house located fire that had burned through the wall between the garage and house and set part of the house on fire. That fire was quickly extinguished and the house was saved from destruction.
Over the next two hours numerous hot spots of small hidden fire in the garage and house were found and quickly extinguished.
Due to the weather being very hot and humid, Chief Phillips called for firefighters from surrounding towns to relieve those who had been fighting the blaze to avoid firefighter heat exhaustion. Every 15 to 20 minutes firefighters were rotated from firefighting to the rehabilitation station where first aid squad members from the Long Hill First Aid Squad and Liberty Corner First Aid Squad checked blood pressure, etc. and gave firefighters plenty of water to drink.
In addition to the Stirling Fire Co., the following fire departments also sent firefighters to blaze: Millington Fire Co., Lyons VA Hospital Fire Dept., Berkeley Heights Fire Dept., Chatham Township Fire Dept., Liberty Corner Fire Dept., and the New Vernon Fire Dept. The Mount Bethel Fire Co. sent one fire engine and a compliment of firefighters to the Millington firehouse to stand by in the event of another fire alarm in Long Hill Twp. The mutual aid system worked flawlessly.Two firefighters were injured, one from Chatham Township that had heat exhaustion and one from Millington that had a minor burn. Both were transported to Overlook Hospital for treatment and released.
By midnight all primary and secondary searches were completed, the utilities had been disconnected earlier, the major fire was out, and all hot spots had been extinguished. Then firefighters began the strenuous task of pickingup hose and packing it on their fire engines as well as returning all the gear to the respective fire trucks.By 1:30 a.m. the fire trucks had been serviced and returned to their respective firehouse.
