Fire guts vacant Plum Street residence

VINELAND – A stubborn fire consumed a vacant center city house Friday evening, keeping firefighters on the scene for several hours.

Just after 9:15 p.m., firefighters were dispatched to simultaneous calls.

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Fire crews responded to a two-vehicle collision at Lincoln and Landis avenues with reported entrapment.

While assisting the injured and preparing to set up a medical helicopter landing zone in the ShopRite parking lot, firefighters were alerted to a fire in the 500 block of East Plum Street.

Several emergency units left the scene, raced down Landis Avenue to discover a working fire in a two-story wood frame house, located next door to Laury Heating.

Plum Street was closed to traffic between the Boulevard and Sixth Street. Residents with smart phones gathered in curbside clusters to film the fire and firefighters.

The windows and door of the vacant residence were boarded up before the fire began, neighbors said. Bystanders, as well as firefighters, noted previous accounts of squatters in the building.

About 15 minutes into the firefighting, the situation inside the building was deemed too dangerous. A siren sounded for all firefighters to evacuate the dwelling.

Fire crews took a defensive stance fighting the fire from the perimeter of the property and kept it from spreading to adjacent buildings.

The pressure of the water blasted a hole through the front wall of the house to knock down flames on the second floor.

After several hours, the house was gutted. It will likely be razed in the next few days, according to fire and construction officials.

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While focused on the house fire, firefighters got a call for a fire in the 600 block of Landis Avenue. When they responded, firefighters found no fire but thick smoke drifting over from the Plum Street blaze.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Vineland detectives were on the scene.

Deborah M. Marko: (856) 563-5256; dmarko@gannettnj.com