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Two police officers were admitted to Monmouth Medical Center for smoke inhalation and 15 firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion after responding to Tuesday’s fire at Twinbrook Village Apartment Complex on Apollo Street, Ocean Township Police Detective Lieutenant Kevin L. Faller said.

Officer Ryan Vaccaro and Detective Jeffrey Malone responded near 1:15 p.m. to the structure fire call, Faller said.

“Upon arrival, officers observed that the landscaping on the south side of that building was in flames,” Faller said. “The fire quickly spread to the structure. Officers evacuated the residents of the building as fire fighters arrived to extinguish the blaze.”

Vaccaro and Malone were transported to Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch where they were treated and released several hours later, Faller said.

A fire fighter from the Wanamassa fire company and a fire fighter from West Long Branch also were transported to Monmouth Medical Center for treatment of non-life threatening injuries and the fifteen fire fighters were treated at the scene for heat exhaustion, Faller said.

The entire apartment building was destroyed, displacing an estimated 40 residents of the 12-unit complex. No residents were injured during the blaze.

“It was engulfed in less than an hour,” Mayor Christopher Siciliano told CBS News. “It was a horrific sight to see, and the folks standing around bewildered, not knowing where they’re going to go tonight. But thank God we had the support of surrounding boroughs. They all came out, all the other departments. They got it under control quickly. It just, it went up so fast.”

Faller said the American Red Cross along with the Township of Ocean Human Services is assisting the displaced residents with emergency temporary housing.

Firefighters from Oakhurst Fire Department and the Wanamassa Fire Department responded as well as mutual aid responses from numerous surrounding fire companies, Faller said.

The cause and origin of the blaze is still unknown at this time and is under investigation by the Monmouth County Fire Marshal’s Office, Oakhurst District 1 Fire Marshal Chris Pujat, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and Ocean Township Police Detective Michael Melody, Faller said.

Anyone with information pertaining to the blaze is being asked to call the Ocean Township crime tip line at (732) 531-3323 or email crimetips@oceantwp.org.

[photo courtesy of Ocean Township Police Department]

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