Town Topics
12 October, 1988

Smoke, but Little Flame In Furnace Fire on Leigh

 A fire that started in a basement furnace is being blamed for smoke that filled one side of a double house at 27 Leigh Avenue Thursday afternoon. A general alarm was sounded at 2:48.

Sgt. John Hammond, first on the scene, was met by the tenant who reported a fire in the basement. There was some smoke in the house which became heavier as Sgt. Hammond walked toward the kitchen, and when he entered the cellar stairway, he saw flames on the floor which appeared the come from burning papers. He extinguished the blaze with a water extinguisher.

Sgt. Hammond then observed flames coming from the furnace. He used a powder extinguisher to try to control it until firemen arrived and put out the fire. Damage was limited to some smoke damage. The cause of the fire was attributed to a deteriorated fire box inside the oil-burning furnace.

Dumpster Fire. Earlier the same day at 1: 50,.there was a fire in a dumpster at Lot 23 off Faculty Road on the University campus.

Proctor Frank Grover, who discovered the fire, managed to pull the small dumpster away from some empty 55-gallon oil drums until six Princeton firemen arrived at the scene and put out the fire.

The cause of the fire is unknown. Damage to the dumpster, owned by Princeton University Building Services, was Limited to blistered green paint in its sides.