3 March, 1992 (~estimate)

Tuesday Fire Guts Interior of House On Hartley Avenue

A Tuesday afternoon fire caused extensive damage to the interior of a one-story home at 302 Hartley Avenue. No one was injured.

The wood-sided home is owned by Princeton University but is rented by Prof. Shoichi Yoshikawa, a research physicist at Princeton University, and his wife, Elinor. Ac-cording to Lt. Mario Musso, Mrs. Yoshikawa was home alone in the living room when she heard a smoke alarm sounding. She walked into the laundry room and saw flames near a gas heater. A plastic clothes basket and a wooden clothing rack were on fire.

She went into the kitchen to get a bucket of water, which she threw on the fire, before calling police. Township police responded and requested a general alarm at 2:21. Five fire trucks, the Princeton rescue Squad First Aid Ambulance and a fire truck from the Kingston FD went to the scene, where firemen had the fire out in 15 minutes.

The cause of the fire, which extensively burned the central interior, is still under investigation. However, Township Fire Chief Raymond Bianco and fire officials were paying close attention to the laundry room and the gas furnace.

“We’re working on it; you’ll just have to be patient, ” Chief Bianco told waiting reporters.