Responders' Efforts Save Drury Lane Home

The quick work of the Wyckoff Fire Department and neighboring responders may have saved a house from being completely engulfed in flames on Monday.

While the Drury Lane home is not habitable, firefighters were able to extinguish a blaze that quickly spread from its origins in the garage before it moved throughout the home.

"I've been active in the fire service for more than 25 years, and that was one of the best efforts to stop a fire I've ever seen," said Mayor Rudy Boonstra.

Fire Chief David Murphy said units started responding to a resident's call of smoke in her home just after 11:30 a.m. Monday. The resident had smelled the smoke, which activated her home's detectors, prompting the call for help before departing to safety outside.

Police were the first on the scene, confirming the reports of smoke while advising firefighters that there likely was a fire in the home's garage. When Murphy arrived minutes later, the fire had already "worked its way up the inside wall" and was making its way to the home's second floor.

Three Wyckoff engines arrived alongside a rescue crew and ladder crew, with firefighters battling the blaze on the interior of the home as well as exterior. Murphy said crews fought the fire inside while the ladder was employed to vent the roof to facilitate the fight inside.

"They did a phenomenal job," the chief said of the fire companies.

The Wyckoff firefighters and mutual aid responders had the two-alarm fire under control in approximately 35 minutes.

"They were able to stop it just prior to it reaching the main structure... it was going to go straight through the top of the house," said Committeeman Kevin Rooney, who was at the scene with colleagues Boonstra and Committeeman David Connolly.

"Kudos to the Fire Department for making an excellent stop," Rooney said.

Murphy said the likely cause of the fire was embers from the home's fireplace, which were placed in the garage prior to the blaze. The debris likely ignited any number of flammable substances that may have been found in the garage.

The chief said that although the majority of the house was untouched by fire, the home isn't habitable due at least to the lingering smell of smoke.

"They're going to be out of that house for quite some time," Rooney said.

Firefighters from Waldwick, Ramsey, Franklin Lakes, Ho-Ho-Kus, Oakland, Hawthorne, Allendale and Mahwah assisted at the scene.