Two-Year-Old Unhurt From Two-Alarm Hackettstown Fire

HACKETTSTOWN, NJ — A two-alarm fire that shut down a segment of Route 46 for over two hours on Tuesday, remains under investigation, its origins currently undetermined.

According to a statement from Sgt. Darren Tynan from the Hackettstown Police Department, a possible structure fire was called in just before 1 p.m. on Tuesday for 116 Main St., with police, the Hackettstown Fire Department and Hackettstown Rescue Squad all responding.

One police officer climbed a ladder to the roof, carrying a fire extinguisher after noticing flames there, but was unsuccessful in the attempt to put the fire out, with the blaze snuffed out close to 2:15 p.m.

Two other officers also ascended the ladder to enter apartments on the building’s second floor, Tynan said, locating a two-year-old boy alone in one of the rooms and carrying him to safety.

The child was not injured, Tynan reported, though he said the “apartments were deemed uninhabitable.”

There was minor water damage to the FruitiMex storage facility on the building’s first floor, but FruitiMex's store at 118 Main was unharmed, Tynan said.

The Hackettstown Fire Police, Department of Public Works, Office of Emergency Management and Building Inspector assisted the police, fire department and rescue squad. Washington Borough Fire Department, Tri-County Fire Company, Independence Township Fire Department, Allamuchy Township Fire Department, Budd Lake Fire Department, Schooley’s Mountain Fire Department and Warren County Fire Coordinator, provided mutual aid, Tynan said, with representatives of Jersey Central Power and Light and Elizabethtown Gas also responding.

Route 46 from Route 517 to West Stiger St. was closed between 1:30 p.m. to about 3:50 p.m.

Tynan said members of the Hackettstown Detective Bureau, the Mount Olive Township Fire Marshal and Warren County Fire Marshal are jointly investigating the fire’s cause, with questions why the boy was left unattended also under investigation.

Questions or comments about this story? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.