Tuesday, July 31, 2012
It's to be held tonight at Avenel Middle School
Many of the 100 people made homeless by the Woodbridge Village apartment fire in July were immigrants and residents of Asian descent. Tonight, a trio of powerhouse Indian organizations are holding a fundraiser to help the fire victims, many of whom lost everything they owned in the blaze, including their passports and visa documentation. The Federation of Indian Association (FIA), South Asian Community Outreach (SACO), and TV ASIA will be hosting a fundraiser for the fire victims tonight from 6:30 pm to 8 pm at Avenel Middle School on Woodbine Avenue. "The funds will go directly to the victims," the flyer for the event said. "Write a check directly to the victims!" Any amount is being accepted by the group's fundraisers. For more …
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Avenel Middle School
85 Woodbine Ave, Avenel, NJ
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Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Displaced residents scrounged through the rubble to salvage what they could of their belongings from the July 10 fire that left 100 homeless.
They escaped with little more than the shirts on their backs when two buildings at Avenel's Woodbridge Village apartments went up in flames earlier this month. Yesterday former residents of the burnt out shells were waiting as an enormous backhoe gingerly knocked down what's left of the buildings torched by the flames. One hundred residents in 52 apartments were made homeless in the July 10 fire. Refugees from the flames waited while recognizeable pieces of their lives poked out from the wreck as the demotion slowly progressed. They retrieved what they could; for many, that meant immigration papers and passports, documents that would be very difficult to replace and necessary for them to live and work. Woodbridge-area businesses and …
Thursday, July 19, 2012
An Avenel resident, Karmazin spent hours photographing the Avenel fire last week.
On the afternoon of July 10th, Paul Karmazin was driving down Woodbine Avenue when he noticed a fire raging at the Woodbridge Village Apartments. "I've always wanted to be a firefighter, but I've never gotten around to it," confessed Karmazin. So, with the Avenel Fire Department already on the scene, Karmazin turned to a hobby he is quite good at - he stopped his car, grabbed his Nikon L110 (after a pit stop at the store for extra batteries), and began documenting the fire as it happened. Understanding the importance of the situation, "...I knew at that point there was nothing I could do to help but show the public," said Karmazin, who took over 300 photographs at the scene, which are viewable at his Photobucket page. The photographs …
Thursday, July 12, 2012
While the church is in good shape with clothing and toiletries, monetary and gift card donations are still needed.
Woodbridge area residents have donated a massive amount of clothing, toys, food, toiletries, and other necessities in the 48 hours since a fire gutted two apartment buildings in Avenel, leaving dozens of families with little more than the clothes on their backs. "A few of us came last night and got a whole bunch of stuff sorted and tables set up," said Tanya Papagiannakis at the First Presbyterian Church of Avenel, where volunteers began sorting through and distributing the donations last night. "A lot of the households housed two to four children per apartment," noted Papagiannakis, pointing to racks of donated children's clothing and tables packed with stuffed animals and books. "The community has really thought of everything. Most of…
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Do you want to get involved? Here's how to help.
More than 100 people were left homeless in yesterday's conflagration at Woodbridge Village in Avenel. The fire destroyed 50 apartments, and had victims running from the buildings with only the clothes on their backs. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured - but that still means that many Woodbridge families lost all of their personal belongings in the blaze. "The Township is coordinating the collection of clothing for the victims and displaced residents of the fire at the Woodbridge Village – Colonia Garden Apartments," said township spokesman John Hagerty. There are several drop off points for used clothing, diapers, and other items, such as the Evergreen Center on Inman Avenue in Colonia and the Woodbridge Community Center on Main …
Officials spend the day after, searching the charred remains for fire's origins.
The fire still smolders on blocks of charred buildings at Woodbridge Village in Avenel. But amongst the wreckage stir detectives and fire officials, churning the ruins for clues to the cause. "We're conducting an investigation. We're still looking for some of the residents," said Avenel Fire Official Corey Spillar, sounding tired after a day and night of firefighting. No one was seriously injured in yesterday's fire that took out two enormous buildings in the Woodbrige Village complex. Spillar meant that he believes all the residents were safe; he couldn't get ahold of some of the Woodbridge Village residents because in the rush to avoid dying in a fire, they left their cell phones behind. That's why "we're having trouble contacting some …
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Officials said that at least 52 living units sustained fire or smoke damage Tuesday afternoon.
At least 52 apartments were involved in a huge fire Tuesday afternoon at the Woodbridge Village Apartments in the Avenel section of Woodbridge, officials said. At least one of the huge warehouse-like buildings, located off Routes 1 and 9, was involved in the fire; two connected buildings were apparently sustaining heavy smoke damage. Strong winds blew acrid, dense smoke from the parking lot to the front of the building, engulfing fire engines and firefighters on the ground. A police officer pointed out sounds of minor explosives - the sound of ammunition in a gun cabinet being ignited by the blaze. The popping ammunition caused fire flares through the roof of the building. Firefighters on aerial ladders were pouring water on the fire from…
Paul K. Karmazin
8:30 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
I am personally grateful that someone was happy to use me and my service to aid them. Josh, Deborah, the Patch Crew, thank you for noticing my passion to be another set of eyes for the world and making it aware that I'm looking for that great job in the media world. I love being on the field and getting dirty too, so, for all the other hard workers out there, thanks for appreciating. I'll some … more ›