Fire destroyed a South Jersey community’s ambulance fleet, leaving hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars in damage but luckily no one injured.
The blaze broke out around 4 a.m. Monday at the American Legion Ambulance Association of Woodstown along Maple Court in Woodstown.
Witnesses claimed to hear explosions as the inferno quickly burned through the building.
An on-duty emergency responder inside felt the heat, woke up three other EMTs and they escaped, firefighters said.
The blaze destroyed six of the town’s ambulances leaving them with only one ambulance in Salem City. One of the destroyed ambulances had just been dropped off hours earlier on Sunday, Salem County Freeholder Melissa DeCastro told NBC10.
"God bless them that they weren't hurt because our ambulances can be recovered because we have insurance," DeCastro said.
It will take some time to get an exact total of the damage but DeCastro says it should total hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars in damage.
The ambulance company serves about 14,000 people in Woodstown, Pilesgrove and Salem and employs more than 40 EMTs.
The ambulance fleet had been updated over the past couple of years — updated to be wheelchair accessible — thanks to a $275,000 wellness grant, ambulance association president Joe Valentine told NBC10.
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Ambulances from neighboring communities would be used to supply emergency response vehicles.
