Fire and Police Battle Fire at Morris Ave. Apartment

Springfield emergency services made quick work of a smoky fire in a Morris Ave. apartment this afternoon.

Township police responded to the fire first, getting to the first floor apartment in the building behind Kris’s Family Barbershop shortly before 2:45 p.m. Captain John Cook, the Officer in Charge of Springfield’s police department, said that the officers responding to the fire found that no people were in the apartment, but that smoke was quickly filling up the structure.

The police evacuated people from nearby storefronts. Kris Yawnick, co-owner of the barbershop, said that he and his staff, who were eating lunch during a lull in business, did not know about the fire until alerted by the police.

“Thank God we didn’t have anybody in the chair,” Yawnick said shortly after returning to the store at 3:30 p.m.

Springfield fire and units from Millburn and Union arrived shortly thereafter, along with a Springfield First Aid Squad Ambulance. Springfield police officers blocked Morris Ave. from traffic between Keller St. and Caldwell Place. 

Despite the prominent smoke on the first floor and basement of the building, the fire was small and quickly contained. Springfield Fire Chief James Sanford said an unattended cigarette started the fire, which spread to the basement after burning a foot-wide hole in the floor.  

While fire fighters contained the fire, a fire hose broke loose from the coupling that attached it to the fire hydrant across the street. Water shot at door hard enough that people inside the bar were worried it might break through, a bar employee said. The fire fighters were able to cut off the hose without damaging the door, but the water spread in a pool about six feet into the bar’s seating area.

McLynn’s co-owner Greg Keller said he and other employees were able to respond to the water quickly enough to prevent any major damage to the bar.