Police Lights (Photo: Jason Rojas/Flickr)
The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office has ruled a Toms River fire accidental as the resident of the home recovers from serious burns.
The fire occurred Tuesday night at about 10:30 p.m. in an apartment on Broad Street, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. A 64 year-old man, who was a tenant of an apartment, was found to have suffered serious burns to his body. He was taken to Cooper Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, N.J. for treatment and further evaluation.
A “thorough and extensive investigation” conducted by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit-Arson Squad, Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit, Toms River Township Police Department Detective Bureau, and Toms River Township Bureau of Fire Prevention, determined that the fire originated on a mattress in the bedroom of the apartment, and that cause of the fire was accidental due to smoking.
Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer thanked the township’s firefighters for their response, and complimented the investigators who probed the blaze.
