House Fire In Whiting

Manchester Police responded to a single story structure Sunday, with four individual apartments at 3 Valley Stream Drive in Whiting, for a structure fire.

When Officer Michael Guarino and Officer Steven Wendruff arrived on scene, they reported the structure was fully involved and said they observed flames protruding from of the roof.

All people within the residential structure were successfully evacuated.  Fire Departments from Whiting, Manchester, Ridgeway, New Egypt, and the Joint Base responded and were able to extinguish the fire.

Manchester Building inspector deemed the dwelling to be uninhabitable and the occupants relocated with family and friends.  Two of the apartments (3B and 3C) had sustained smoke damage and apartments (3A and 3D) had sustained smoke and fire damage. 

Quality Medical tended to the involved parties for precautionary reasons; however no one was transports to the hospital.  Investigators later learned that several cats perished in the fire.  Manchester Animal control was called out and removed the deceased animals from the residences.

At this time the cause and origin of the fire is currently being investigated by the Ocean County Fire Marshal’s office and Manchester Detective Christopher Hemhauser. It has been determined that the fire started in the 3D valley stream apartment and the fire is not considered to be of a suspicious nature.