The home on Cedar Island Drive was unoccupied when the fire broke out, said Kevin Batzel, chief of the Brick Township Bureau of Fire Safety. There were no injuries reported.
The fire was reported about 6:30 a.m. and was confirmed by Officer Joseph Sansone, who then called in the remainder of Brick’s fire companies to fight the fire.
The fire started on the lower part of the exterior of the home, according to the preliminary investigation, Batzel said. It traveled up the house and broke through into the interior on the upper floors of the house.
He said the sprinklers had been installed as part of recent reconstruction, and sprinkler heads in bedrooms on the second and third floors activated, “which held the fire in check until the fire department arrived.”
The sprinklers slowed the spread of the fire throughout the home and “gave firefighters valuable time to extinguish the fire and minimize damage,” Batzel said.
“Residential fire sprinklers are required in some larger constructed or renovated homes such as this one,” he said, adding that they provide another layer of protection to go along with smoke detectors.
Assistant Fire Marshal Robert Kurilla is investigating.
Batzel praised Brick Township’s firefighters and thanked all of the mutual aid partners for their assistance with the fire.
