Firefighters respond to report of ‘small explosion’ at Cinnaminson, NJ house

🔥 The fire at a two-story home in Cinnaminson was contained

🔥 It was initially reported as an explosion

🔥 An explosion leveled another house less than a mile away in 2011

CINNAMINSON — A family made it safely out of their house following what fire officials initially described as a "small explosion" Thursday night.

A family room inside the two-story house on Woodhaven Drive sustained the most damage, Cinnaminson Fire Chief Bill Kramer told New Jersey 101.5.

There was "significant" heat and smoke damage throughout the house Kramer said there was no explosion. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The house is located several blocks from a house that was completely leveled by an explosion in 2011

Video of Thursday night's fire showed a large object lying on the ground in the backyard of the house and several ladders leaning on the house.  There was no obvious damage to the front of the house.

Fires mistaken for explosions

"Over my career a number of times people think that there was an explosion when a window blows out because it makes a lot of racket under pressure from the fire," Kramer said.

The fire was contained to just one room and was quickly contained, according to the chief.

A house explosion in 2011

While Kramer is very aware of a house explosion in Buena Township that killed two adults and two toddlers on Aug. 3,  the memory of a house explosion in his own township was also on his mind and perhaps those of the neighbors who called in the fire.

"In 2011 during a pretty significant snowstorm, we had a house completely leveled and significant damage to the house houses on either side of it. We're very cognizant of house explosions, that's for sure," Kramer said.

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