No one hurt in fire at Newhaven Court senior home
CENTER TWP — A fire struck one of the buildings at the Newhaven Court at Clearview senior living facility on Monday afternoon, Nov. 6. Initial word from fire officials and staff at the facility is that no one was hurt or required transportation to a hospital.
The fire was first reported around 3:20 p.m. and took only six minutes to extinguish. Units from the Unionville, Prospect-Franklin Township, Butler Township and Oneida Valley fire departments responded.
Several residents were briefly evacuated.
According to Mike Pflugh, chief of the Unionville Volunteer Fire Company, the fire was mostly localized to a second-floor balcony. Pflugh believes that a careless smoker caused the blaze.
“We’re under the assumption that somebody was smoking out on the balcony … a potentially new resident,” Pflugh said. “They must have put the cigarette into a flower plant, which caught the dead leaves on fire, and then the railing.”
Pflugh credited the staff at Newhaven Court for ensuring the fire did not spread much farther than the balcony.
“The workers did a very remarkable job with the fire extinguishers,” Pflugh said.
Krystle Pry, executive operations officer at Newhaven Court, reiterated that no one was hurt in the blaze, but said she could not provide further comment.
