LAKEWOOD – Members of the township’s police and fire departments as well as Lakewood Emergency Medical Services responded to the High Point Condominium Complex which was engulfed in flames according to Police Capt. Gregory Staffordsmith.
Township police received a call around 12:50 a.m. this morning of an unknown apartment fire in the complex. Upon arrival, police discovered that the entire building located at 458 Prospect Ave. had caught fire. Police officers entered 16 apartments within the building locating residents inside who were evacuated safely.
Staffordsmith said that emergency responders were able to control and extinguish the blaze in a little over two hours.
During the incident, five police officers were treated and released from the Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus, Lakewood, for smoke inhalation. It was discovered that two adults and one child were severely injured and were transported to Monmouth Medical Southern Campus Hospital prior to emergency personnel’s arrival at the scene.
The victims were transported to St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston.
It was also reported that Lakewood School District Superintendent Laura Winters said that 15 public school students were displaced as a result of families having to leave their residence. The investigation continues as to the cause of the fire by members of the Lakewood Police Department Detective Bureau, The Ocean County Prosecutors Office and The Ocean County Fire Marshals Office.
