Hundreds in Lakewood Lose Power On Erev Shabbos

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lakewood-car-power-downHundreds of Lakewood, NJ, residents were left without power on Erev Shabbos after two vehicles were engulfed in flames and one car was jolted by electric wires during a storm that downed a tree onto five vehicles traveling on River Avenue. Hundreds in developments including the Villas, County Line Manor, Brook Hill Estates, The Estates, Village Park, Raintree, and residents on County Line Road, Somerset Avenue and other areas were without power as Shabbos arrived. JCP&L did not restore power until after Shabbos had begun.

“You could see where the power entered the car and blew a hole through fender and traveled out the door,” Lakewood Fire Chief Wayne Truex said of the car damaged by electricity.

Rescue efforts were hampered briefly because of the live wires. A person trapped in another car was rescued after a loud electrical explosion killed power to the lines, Truex said.

“It was like the Fourth of July fireworks here,” Truex said.

Wet weather coupled with downed electric lines put people at risk of electrocution as they fled their cars, Truex said.
When live electrical wires are downed on a vehicle, the safest place is still inside the vehicle, unless it is on fire, Truex said. Even then, getting out is “a 50-50 chance” of survival, he said.

There were two minor injuries, though no one was electrocuted, Truex said.

At about 9:50 a.m., a tree at 319 River Ave. in front of the Board of Fire Commissioners and the Lakewood Fire Reliance Hose Company went down. The tree took the wires down. A truck that had a full 70-gallon gas tank caught fire as did another vehicle, Truex said.

A private school and the Family Planning Center of Ocean County on Route 9 were evacuated because of a lack of power to the buildings, said Lt. William Addison of the Lakewood police.

Route 9 was closed for an extended length of time.

{Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter/APP}


3 COMMENTS

  1. it was terrible…but for the people of the accident and the firemen who put their lives on the line to put the fire out. So the kids had to be sent home early, so what. Their parents had to pick them up early, so what. They are ok, they still have their cars and do not have to relive this nightmare in their dreams for awhile to come. What a great job of showing compassion.

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