Wednesday, April 10, 2013
The borough fire department has responded to several calls in the past week alone. Dry weather and stray cigarettes are likely culprits.
Warm, dry weather and stray sparks don't mix, especially when you're around mulch piles that can fuel a fire. In the past week, the Collingswood Fire Department has been called out to the Heights of Collingswood apartment building four times to extinguish fires that started in mulch piles on the property. Two happened in the afternoon and evening of April 3 outside the "C" Tower, one in the afternoon of April 7 outside the "A" Tower, and two within an hour April 9, also outside the "A" Tower. Fire Chief Keith Davis says there is "nothing really suspicious" about the activity; when new mulch is laid, it can burn for a while if a spark is introduced. Lately it's been a common issue in surrounding towns, too, he said. "Every time when the …
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Borough authorities report the fire alarm system in the building has been maliciously and falsely triggered at least four times since the beginning of the year.
Collingswood emergency services personnel have been called out to investigate four false-alarm calls at the Heights of Collingswood apartment building since Jan. 3. All have occurred in the same wing of the first floor of the "D" Tower in the Heights of Collingswood in the same wing: According to Collingswood Police, knowingly triggering a fire alarm when there's no emergency is a crime of the fourth degree that maxes out at $2,500 full-cash bail. Police have said that once the identity of the responsible party or parties is known, he, she or they will be charged accordingly with all offenses. Those acts are not only criminally malicious, said Collingswood Fire Chief Keith Davis, but they're downright disrespectful to the thousands who …
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Taxpayers may have differences of opinion on the value of a PILOT agreement, said Superintendent Scott Oswald, but abatements don't affect the school budget.
The “biggest and longest” PILOT agreement in Collingswood, said Mayor James Maley, is that into which it entered with the Ingerman Group, the property management company that will complete Phases III and IV of the LumberYard project before moving its home offices the first floor of the new building. Next is the 10-year agreement with Kitchen & Associates, and then there are 5-year PILOTS with new businesses, a standard offer “that anybody in town can get,” Maley said, including Dr. John B. Tedeschi of Advocare, who is building a new office in town. But the idea that any PILOT agreement costs the Collingswood school district by keeping taxes off the books “is totally, completely wrong,” Maley said. “The impact is that you don’t have a …
Saturday, December 22, 2012
The second kitchen fire in a week struck the 'D' building at the apartment complex overnight Friday.
A family of three was displaced in an early-morning kitchen fire at the Heights of Collingswood apartment building overnight. The incident was held to just one unit in the "D" Tower of the building, and there were "No injuries, no problems," said Collingswood Fire Chief Keith Davis. Collingswood F.D. was dispatched to the property at 2:31 a.m. Saturday. Within eight minutes, the fire had developed into an all-hands call, which Davis has said is standard procedure in a property of its size. He estimates the situation was under control within 20 minutes. "We knocked it down pretty quick," Davis said. Earlier this week, the same building on the property was struck by a kitchen fire in another unit. Despite the proximity of these events, such …
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Between 1 and 2 a.m. Tuesday morning, fire and emergency services personnel from five nearby communities were sent to the apartment complex. No one was injured.
Firefighters battled a small kitchen fire in the "D" tower of the Heights of Collingswood apartment building early Tuesday morning. The fire broke out on the second floor of the building, and was quickly contained. Only one tenant resides in the apartment in question. There were no injuries as a result of the incident. "We were dispatched for an alarm system activation and were met by a tenant who said his apartment was on fire on the second floor," said Collingswood Fire Chief Keith Davis. "Firefighters found a fire in the kitchen area and filled a working fire box, which dispatches additional fire companies," Davis said. Firefighters from four additional towns responded to the call—Audubon, Gloucester City, Haddon Township and Pennsauken…
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
A reported drug buy gone wrong led to a second-degree robbery charge for Roberto Rentas. Police locked down the C building Dec. 6 while they sorted it out.
It was a case of misplaced aggression and mistaken identity, and by the end of it, Roberto Rentas found himself charged with second-degree robbery over a $300 beef. The 32-year-old Camden man allegedly played both victim and aggressor in an ill-fated trip to the "C" Building of the Heights of Collingswood apartment complex last Thursday. According to Collingswood police, Rentas arrived at the apartments the afternoon of December 6 with the intention of purchasing $20 of marijuana from a contact named "Tony." During a brief encounter in the stairwell, Rentas reported that "Tony" snatched $300 in cash from him, and then dashed downstairs and outside, allegedly fleeing in a silver vehicle. An irate Rentas then allegedly charged up to the …
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Units from Audubon, Bellmawr, Camden and Gloucester cities, Cherry Hill, Mt. Ephraim, Pennsauken and Westmont joined Squad 16 in containing the second-story fire.
It came through dispatch as an apartment fire at the Heights of Collingswood—and then the caller hung up, said Collingswood Fire Chief Keith Davis. Within four minutes, respondents from eight other nearby companies joined him at the scene of a second-floor apartment fire that sent one woman to the hospital Wednesday afternoon. The fire was under control before 1:30 p.m., Davis said. The woman reportedly suffered smoke inhalation and later received treatment at Cooper University Hospital in Camden for her injuries, which authorities termed “non-life-threatening.” Members of Collingswood Squad 16 were sent up to the second floor on a search-and-rescue with a 5-pound extinguisher, and were able to knock down some of the fire when they …
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Collingswood police, fire, and EMS personnel were all on the scene around 10 p.m. Tuesday evening. Thankfully, the incident wasn't serious.
A meal gone awry was the culprit behind a rapid and thorough response from borough emergency personnel at the Heights of Collingswood apartments Tuesday evening. Police, fire, and EMS all responded to the call last night sometime around 9:45 p.m., according to residents at the building who notified Collingswood Patch. They were supported by vehicles from Westmont Fire Company No. 1. Authorities on the scene chalked up the hubbub to some burnt food, and said nobody was harmed in the incident. Collingswood F.D. had made a stopover to the property earlier in the day to help extract a resident from a malfunctioning elevator. There have been plenty of false alarms at the Heights of Collingswood of late, however. According to Collingswood police…
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Residents report two trash-chute fires to Patch; Collingswood F.D. as yet unable to confirm.
Two fires set in the trash chutes of the the C building of the Heights of Collingswood evacuated the property twice in the span of two hours Friday, according to a resident at the propery. It is the policy of the Collingswood Fire Department that only the chief issues formal comment to the media on firefighting actions, and Fire Chief Keith Davis was not immediately available to confirm the details of this story around 11:00 p.m. Friday. According to the resident, the first fire broke out on the third floor of the building around 8:15 p.m., causing the building to be evacuated for about 40 minutes. "Do not know if it was accidental or another stupid joke of some bright HOC residents," the resident wrote in an e-mail to Patch. The same …
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Thursday, August 9, 2012
Mayor James Maley says the group is entitled to its views, but that legally they could never reach a ballot initiative.
At present, the LumberYard redevelopment is not exactly what it was supposed to have been: a tightly budgeted investment that would invigorate downtown Collingswood with luxury condominiums and an infusion of the tax revenues that such high-end projects deliver. Instead, myriad factors—a down economy, a burst housing bubble, a builder crying poor, a savaged municipal credit rating—rewrote the script. In its current incarnation, the last phase of the project is slated to be completed as a multi-unit, five-story apartment complex with some retail spaces on the bottom floors. And for one group of Collingswood residents, that’s one change too many. They’re hoping that with enough signatures, the borough will change course on the project. They’…
Joe
2:06 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Are there no security cameras? Can the Borough fine the Heights' management company? I would love to get a figure regarding the number of man-hours our emergency services spend at the Heights annually. It is getting to the point where it seems every third time I drive past the towers, one or more of our first reponders is(are) there. more ›