Wildwood firefighters enter Crescent Wind Apartments, 228 E. Spencer Ave., Wildwood March 18. Photo by Nancy Rump

Wildwood firefighters enter Crescent Wind Apartments, 228 E. Spencer Ave., Wildwood March 18. Photo by Nancy Rump

Wildwood firefighters enter Crescent Wind Apartments, 228 E. Spencer Ave., Wildwood March 18. Photo by Nancy Rump

Prev Next Enlarge

WILDWOOD – City firefighters knocked down a rooming house blaze on Spencer Avenue Fri., March 18. Crews were dispatched to the Crescent Wind Avenue Apartments around 1:30 p.m. for a report of smoke in the building.

According to Wildwood Deputy Fire Chief Dan Speigel, the fire was contained inside the three-story structure. Most of the damage was to the second floor, where the fire started, he said.

No one was injured, but extensive smoke and water damage rendered the building uninhabitable. The building was occupied by its owners at the time of the blaze, but had no actual tenants. The owners and neighbors called 9-1-1 to report the fire, Speigel said, adding the apartments had no tenants because they are used seasonally.

The structure, located at 228 E. Spencer Ave., sustained about $75,000 in damage, according to a release from the Wildwood Fire Department.

Speigel said crews from the city fire department and the county Fire Marshal’s Office investigated the blaze and ruled it accidental. He said “combustibles” were located too close to a water heater on the second floor and caused the fire to start.

“Rags, storage, that sort of thing,” Speigel said. “The water heater kicked on, and they caught on fire.”

About three months ago, Wildwood fire crews battled another house fire, also the result of combustible material going up in flames after a water heater started.

That fire, at a home in the 5000 block of Atlantic Avenue, ignited after an occupant in the house used aerosol spray foam too close to the water heater. Wildwood Fire Chief Conrad Johnson said the flame of the heater caught the aerosol and caused a flash fire that scorched a nearby wall. Fire crews contained the blaze to the room it started in and stopped it from extending to the second floor.

At the Crescent Wind apartments, Speigel said city fire crews doused flames on the second floor upon arrival, and crews from North Wildwood stretched a second line to quell the blaze’s extension to the floor above. As a result, there was only minor fire damage on the third floor, he said.

The Wildwood Police Department and fire crews from Wildwood Crest and West Wildwood also assisted, in addition to Rio Grande Rescue Squad, which provided rehabilitation after firefighters exited the building, and the Rio Grand Fire Company’s rapid intervention crew. Speigel said the latter was on site to rescue injured firefighters inside the building if needed.

Although flames were quickly contained, crews remained on scene for over two hours to secure and ventilate the building.