Community Corner

Crisis Averted by Quick-Acting Kids

Holden Fisher and Matt Havens noticed smoke billowing from the house next door and quickly got help.

Nothing much happened on Browning Road Friday night.

That's mostly because some quick-thinking kids picked up on a small fire developing next door and asked an adult to call it in to the Collingswood Fire Department.

Holden Fisher and Matt Havens were coming back from a walk after an afternoon of serious bike-riding when they noticed it.

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"It smelled like a fireplace," said Fisher. "I looked and could see there was a vent in the attic and [smoke] was just billowing out."

The culprit was a bad fan motor that burned up in the home next door, said Collingswood F.D. Lt. Edward Glaze. No injuries were sustained as a result of the incident.

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The property is currently listed with Main Street Realty. In fact, a prospective buyer happened to be driving by in time to see the fire department outside—an unsettling discovery, to be sure.

Even so, the excitement didn't quite faze homeowner Bill Fisher, Holden's dad, and co-owner of The Pop Shop, who said, "This corner sees a lot of weird stuff happen."

Havens was similarly fatalistic about the experience. He credited his fatigue from the afternoon's workout with boys' involvement in the caper.

"If me and Holden weren't thirsty from riding our bikes earlier," he said, "it would have burned."


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