November 27, 1995 (~estimated)

Fire in Princeton traced to electric blanket

By Linda Prospera

Staff Writer

A 20-year old electric blanket taken out of storage for the winter was blamed for a fire at 272 Hamil-ton Ave. Friday morning, Princeton Borough Police Lt. Anthony Federico said Monday.

According to the owner of the house, Louise Goss, the bedroom where the fire erupted had just been prepared for guests who were expected from Florida later this week.

An electric blanket had been placed on the bed, tested and turned off 10 minutes before Miss Goss left the house at 9:15 a.m.

She said her housekeeper, Ella Fishbum, heard a smoke alarm 10 minutes later while doing the laundry downstairs. When she went upstairs to inspect, the housekeeper saw a “fireball” on the bed, and ran downstairs to call the fire department from a neighbor’s home.

Six fire trucks from Princeton and one from Kingston responded to the blaze which was centered on the second floor of the split-level house. Heavy smoke damage was reported throughout the house, where Miss Goss has lived for 26 years.

Miss Goss, who is executive vice president of The New School For Music Study in Kingston, said she was concerned about her mother’s family journals dating from 1920, which were in a bedroom cabinet.

The journals were retrieved by fire officials. “They were a little damp, but unharmed,” she said.

The bedrooms were renovated just two years ago, said Miss Goss, but she said she was grateful that the fire did not occur while someone was sleeping in the house. “At least it didn’t happen in the middle of the night,” she said. “I’m alive.”

Miss Goss is living temporarily with a friend in the borough.