On Saturday March 7, 2015 at approximately 10:15 PM the Hopewell Township Police Department, along with the Pennington Fire Company, responded to the Hopewell Township Public Works building located along Washington Crossing Pennington Road, for the report of a fire alarm.
Officer Robert Voorhees arrived at the building and found a heavy smoke condition in the large parking bay of the building. Further investigation found a public works dump truck on fire inside the building. The building was closed and there were no public works employees on site at the time.
The Pennington Fire Company, under the command of Deputy Chief Nick Gaudioso, with the assistance of the Hopewell Fire Department, the Union Fire Company, the Lawrenceville Fire Department, and the West Trenton Fire Company made entry to the building and extinguished the fire.
The Lawrence Road Fire Company, Pennington Road Fire Company, Slackwood Fire Company, and the Upper Makefield Fire Company assisted with suppression operations.
The Pennington First Aid Squad, Union Fire Company and Rescue Squad, and Signal 22 also assisted at the scene.
County Route 546 was closed between Scotch Road and Jacobs Creek Road for approximately three hours during this incident.
The dump truck was severely damaged. Several other vehicles in the building suffered smoke and heat damage. The building also suffered smoke and heat damage.
While the fire appears to be accidental in nature, this incident remains under investigation by Hopewell Township Police Department Detective Frank Tulko, Hopewell Valley Emergency Services Chief Matthew Martin, Mercer County Fire Marshal Scott McCormick, and Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office Detective Marc Masseroni.
There were no reported injuries on scene.
