Former Journal columnist Earl Morgan survives house fire

By Ken Thorbourne/The Jersey Journal
October 05, 2009, 2:02PM


Legendary Journal columnist Earl Morgan survived a one-alarm blaze at his Astor Place home in Jersey City early this morning.

The top floor of the Astor Place home of retired Jersey Journal columnist Earl Morgan was scorched by a one-alarm fire early this morning.

Morgan, who retired in May, evacuated the three-story home at around 12:30 a.m., with this wife and 22-year-old grandson. They suffered no injuries and weren't displaced.

The electrical fire started in a third-floor study and spread when a chair caught fire, Morgan said.

"My grandson was fiddling with the computer (in the study)," Morgan explained this morning. "Then he went to the kitchen to make a sandwich. There must have been a surge. When he went back up, the fire had started."

Firefighters responded in less than three minutes after the 12:28 a.m. call came in, Fire Director Armando Roman said.

The top-floor rear of the brick house suffered heavy fire damage. Some walls had to be ripped into and two windows were shattered. The second and first floors sustained water damage.

"I was happy the firefighters minimized the damage to the house and no one was injured, and it all has to do with the response time," Roman said.

This isn't Morgan's first brush with a fire. He famously tells of Jersey City firefighters coming to the rescue of his family when they lived on Orient Avenue some years ago.

As fires go, last night's was a "relatively minor one," he said; but nonetheless "a disconcerting experience."

"I certainly thank them (the firefighters)," he added.