Early Saturday morning February 26th at 4:07 in the morning the Budd Lake firefighters were alerted to a report of a house fire at 191 Flanders Drakestown Road Asst. Chief Sheard and Chief Evans arrived and reported a fire in the roof area of a 100 year old church that was converted to a residential home and had Flanders Fire and Netcong Fire as the R.I.C. assignment dispatched. Engine 53 stretched a hand line to the front door and tried to pull ceilings but were forced out do to the roof starting to take off. The high ceilings plaster and lath construction created tuff conditions. Ladder 58 and tower 96 went into ladder operations as crew went to work with deck guns. Command called for more resources as a 5,000 foot 5” hose lay was need and a Tender task force was also put in place do to the lack of good hydrants in the area. The fire was brought under control in two hours, there were two firefighter injuries at the scene do to icy conditions. The fire is under investigation by the Mt. Olive police and the fire marshals office. Additional fire and first aid units that assisted at the scene were Washington Township, Chester, Hackettstown and Bryam Fire Departments as ell as the Morris County Fire Coordinator Chief Alderton.
