A structure fire destroyed a Mays Landing home early Saturday.
The house, located at 4612 Somers Point Road, was reduced to a couple of chimneys. A detached garage was gutted.
Mays Landing Fire Chief Bob Hamilton said the home was a “total loss.” No one was inside the house and no firefighters were injured, Hamilton said.
The owner of the house lived next door and was doing renovations the home, Hamilton said.
Firefighters received a call of a possible forest fire – reported by duck hunters - around 4:45 a.m., Hamilton said.
But police arriving on scene identified it as a structure fire with heavy flames on all four sides, Hamilton said. All fire departments in Hamilton Township responded, as did Tanker Task Force A, which includes tankers from the eastern part of Atlantic County, Hamilton said.
Investigators couldn’t get inside the building because it was “too hot,” so a cause and location of the fire was still unknown as of 10:30 a.m., Hamilton said.
It took about three hours to extinguish the fire, Hamilton said.
A big challenge in putting out the fire was the location of the house, which was hundreds of feet from the street. That was why the tanker task force was activated, which laid 5-inch line down the long, winding driveway, Hamilton said.
