South Jersey Officials Want Public Meeting With Utility Company After House Fire
by Kristen Johanson
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Officials in South Jersey want to hold a public meeting after a house fire injured seven people Monday morning.
Blustery conditions made it difficult for the Woodbury Fire Department to fight a house fire on Mehorter Blvd, and more dangerous.
"You're dealing with the water, you got the wind, the wind blowing the wires around that are still hot on the ground," said Woodbury Fire Chief Randal Gartner
He says it may have been made much worse because of PSE&G's response time.
"Took over five hours to get a supervisor over here. And it took them well over an hour to get the power off," said Gartner.
He and the city's mayor now want a meeting with the utility company, saying it's a reoccurring problem.
"When you have a fire condition like this, and you got 75-100 firefighters out here, endangering them with that, that is just inexcusable," Gartner said.
PSE&G respnded with the following statement:
"Our standard operating procedure is to respond within one hour to emergencies called in by police and fire departments. As stated earlier, our personnel were dispatched, de-energized the lines, and shut off gas without incident. There was no reason to send a supervisor.
We would welcome a meeting with the fire chief."
