A Smoldering Cigarette Was the Cause of Avenel Fire

A discarded lit cigarette was the that consumed several condo units in Avenel Tuesday and made three families homeless. 

Official Cory Spillar said that the "male occupant" of 1505 Madaline Drive admitted he had been outside, smoking, on the second story wooden balcony of the condo unit, and that he had flicked the cigarette into the shared driveway the condo unit shares with another building.

But he apparently didn't flick it far enough away from the building. 

"Due to the burn pattern and heavy charring on the deck, it was apparent it had been smoldering for some time," Spillar said.

That matches what Felicia Kelly, the condo owner, said Tuesday. She had been working in her third floor home office when she said , but she couldn't pinpoint the source of the odor.

"It was a heavily windy day. The driveway between the two buildings created a huge wind vortex that sucked the air in and fed the fire," Spillar said.

The two vinyl chairs on the balcony and a plant in a pot also fed the flames after the wooden balcony had been smoldering for some time.

"The fire took off within minutes," Spillar said.

Three units in the six condo building were declared uninhabitable after the roof of the building caved in on that side. Firefighters were battling the flames from the front and rear of the building, which led onto a open field with high tension lines.

The vinyl siding on the condo building across the driveway of the blaze.

Kelly complained that it took too long for the firefighters to douse the flames, and that she should've used a garden hose to stop the fire when it was confined to the wooden balcony.

According to Spillar's records, the fire department dispatch received the call at 1:32 pm. By 1:35 pm, Spillar was at the scene and the first fire engines were just arriving.

"If [Kelly] smelled smoke, she should've contacted 911 instead of waiting," he said.

Most of the Woodbridge fire companies responded to the fire, as well as South Plainfield and the Melrose unit in Sayreville.

There were no reported injuries, Spillar said. The fire has been deemed to be accidental.