Summit Firefighters Help Extinguish Short Hills Blaze

The Summit Fire Department helped extinguish a two-alarm fire late Friday night in an empty three-story home undergoing renovations on Parsonage Hill Road in Short Hills, fire officials said.

The fire was reported at about 11:10 p.m. by two Comcast employees who were sent out to look for a downed, and possibly hazardous, line, they said.

“We heard the smoke detector go off and saw a glow in the living room,” said Steve Juchnik, who banged on the door in an attempt to see if anyone was home. “You could see the flames whipping up on the ceiling.”

Firefighters from Maplewood, Irvington, Springfield and West Orange also helped get the fire under control.

A firefighter injured his hand and required stitches, but other than that, there were no injuries, said Millburn Fire Chief Mike Roberts.

"We were lucky no one was there," he said.

Comcast employee Mike Kowalski called 911 when he and Juchnik realized there was a fire.

“We were here when the fire first started.” he said, “We were saying, ‘Do you smell smoke?’ Then, we heard the smoke detectors and saw the flames.”

The fire started on the first floor and went as high as the third floor by the time it was finally under control, Chief Roberts said. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, he said.