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GREAT NEWS: North Jersey Wildfire 100% Contained, Authorities Report GREAT NEWS: North Jersey Wildfire 100% Contained, Authorities Report
Great NEWS: North Jersey Wildfire 100% Contained, Authorities Report UPDATE: The worst is over: The wildfire that marched through West Milford the past three days is 100% contained, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service reported on Saturday. The blaze, which was beaten back at first but then grew steadily over the previous 48 hours, finally topped out at 972 acres on April 15 – and that was it, the service said. Fire officials also said this would be the last of the updates from the “Kanouse Wildfire," the largest blaze in North Jersey since 2010. Ten structures in all were threatened – half of which were evacuated – yet none were seriously damaged thanks to …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Homeowner Charged With Arson, Aggravated Assault In Destructive Fire Overlooking Greenwood Lake Homeowner Charged With Arson, Aggravated Assault In Destructive Fire Overlooking Greenwood Lake
Homeowner Charged With Arson, Aggravated Assault In Destructive Fire Overlooking Greenwood Lake UPDATE: A West Milford man was charged with conducting an illegal backyard burn that ignited a rapidly-spreading weekend blaze that sent two firefighters to the hospital while destroying one home and damaging two others on a hill overlooking Greenwood Lake. Keith Scherer, 45, of Hewitt, was burning wood and debris in a fire pit behind his Lakeside Road home when the brush caught fire and flames spread up the hill in the Hewitt section of West Milford, a little over a half-mile from the New York State border, shortly before 12:30 p.m., March 18, responders had told Daily Voice. Scherer was …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Resident's Illegal Burn Ignites Blaze Overlooking Greenwood Lake: Two FFs Injured, Home Gone Resident's Illegal Burn Ignites Blaze Overlooking Greenwood Lake: Two FFs Injured, Home Gone
Resident's Illegal Burn Ignites Blaze Overlooking Greenwood Lake: Two FFs Injured, Home Gone UPDATE: A resident conducting an illegal burn on a hill overlooking Greenwood Lake ignited a rapidly-spreading brush fire Saturday that engulfed one home, damaged two others and sent two firefighters to the hospital, authorities confirmed. The resident was burning wood and debris in a fire pit when the brush caught fire and flames spread up the hill in the Hewitt section of West Milford, a little over a half-mile from the New York State border, shortly before 12:30 p.m., March 18, West Milford Fire Marshal Michael Moscatello said. Two firefighters were transported from the scene to Chilton…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Firefighters Injured, Homes Damaged By Brush Blaze Overlooking Greenwood Lake Firefighters Injured, Homes Damaged By Brush Blaze Overlooking Greenwood Lake
Firefighters Injured, Homes Damaged By Brush Blaze Overlooking Greenwood Lake UPDATE: A resident conducting an illegal burn on a hill overlooking Greenwood Lake ignited a rapidly-spreading brush fire Saturday that engulfed one home, damaged two others and sent two firefighters to the hospital, authorities confirmed. The resident was burning wood and debris in a fire pit when the brush caught fire and flames spread up the hill in the Hewitt section of West Milford, a little over a half-mile from the New York State border, shortly before 12:30 p.m., March 18, West Milford Fire Marshal Michael Moscatello said. Two firefighters were transported from the scene to Chilton …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Judge Refuses Release Of West Milford Security Salesman Charged With Sexually Assaulting Woman Judge Refuses Release Of West Milford Security Salesman Charged With Sexually Assaulting Woman
Judge Refuses Release Of West Milford Security Salesman Charged With Sexually Assaulting Woman A judge refused to release a security company salesman from West Milford who’s charged with sexually assaulting a township woman. Austin Hopler sexually assaulted the woman -- who, like him, is 25 -- following an event at a local home last June 6, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and West Milford Township Police Chief James Devore alleged in a joint release. Hopler was arrested last Monday, Jan. 9, following an investigation by township police and members of the prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit, they said. The six-year U.S. Marine Corps veteran – who’d been stationed at Fort Di…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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'Was That An Earthquake?' North Jersey Asks 'Was That An Earthquake?' North Jersey Asks
'Was That An Earthquake?' North Jersey Asks "What was that?" was the question that rumbled through a large swath of North Jersey and into New York State early Wednesday afternoon. Mine blasting? A sonic boom? Seneca guns? Unconfirmed reports of an earthquake or "seismic-like event" stretched from Newton and Sparta in Sussex County to as far east as the Palisades in Alpine beginning at 12:52 p.m. Jan. 11.  There were similar calls in several southern New York State counties, as well as in the Poconos in Pennsylvania. All are basically in the area of the Ramapo Fault Line. The longest and oldest in the Northeast -- at 185 m…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Local Man Charged, Released In Rash Of West Milford Vehicle Thefts Local Man Charged, Released In Rash Of West Milford Vehicle Thefts
Local Man Charged, Released In Rash Of West Milford Vehicle Thefts West Milford police nabbed a local man in connection with a string of vehicle burglaries, then had to let him go. Tyler J. Nowinski, 21, of Hewitt, was seized after an alert resident quickly called police to report a stranger carrying a skateboard who was trying the door handle of a vehicle parked in a Lakeshore Drive doorway, Chief James DeVore said Tuesday, Jan. 10. Police had been investigating several vehicle burglaries, thefts and failed attempts burglaries in the Upper Greenwood Lake and Hewitt sections of the township dating back to Nov. 26, the chief said. Detectives tied Nowinski …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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NJ Couple Charged With Running Five-Finger Discount Ring NJ Couple Charged With Running Five-Finger Discount Ring
NJ Couple Charged With Running Five-Finger Discount Ring A Passaic County couple ran a retail theft ring that paid thieves to shoplift specific items from a list that they provided, authorities charged. Ali Soto, 42, and Vickiana Colon, 36, both of North Haledon, were both charged with being leaders of an organized theft operation, among other offenses. The arrests were made on Dec. 14, 2022 but weren’t announced until Wednesday, Jan. 4, in a joint release issued by Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes, West Milford Township Police Chief James Devore and North Haledon Police Chief Todd Darby. They didn’t say why. Wednesday's release…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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'A Kind Woman': Beloved Member Of Tight-Knit North Jersey Community Killed In Weekend Crash 'A Kind Woman': Beloved Member Of Tight-Knit North Jersey Community Killed In Weekend Crash
'A Kind Woman': Beloved Member Of Tight-Knit North Jersey Community Killed In Weekend Crash Members of a private lakeside community in West Milford are mourning the sudden loss of a beloved homeowner who was killed in a single-vehicle crash over the weekend. Cindi Romano, 65, was behind the wheel of her Jeep Wrangler when it struck a mailbox and then a utility pole on Otter Hole Road between Westbrook Road and Highview Drive near her home at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 18, authorities said. Romano was pronounced dead at the scene, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and West Milford Police Chief James DeVore said in a brief release on Monday. No other vehicles were involved, …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Ex-Trump Stalker Gets 6 Years, No Parole, For Threatening Secret Service Agent, Vets Officer Ex-Trump Stalker Gets 6 Years, No Parole, For Threatening Secret Service Agent, Vets Officer
Ex-Trump Stalker Gets 6 Years, No Parole, For Threatening Secret Service Agent, Vets Officer UPDATE: A former longtime stalker of former President Trump must spend nearly six years in federal prison for threatening to assault a Secret Service agent and "shoot up" an officer at a VA hospital in New Jersey. Frank Monte, 52, of Passaic County, NJ, must serve out just about all of the sentence because there's no parole in the federal court system. Monte, of the Oak Ridge section of West Milford, "repeatedly called the emergency line of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Police at the VA Lyons hospital campus" in Somerset County, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said on Tuesd…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Wanted Sex Offender Had 400 Heroin Folds, Crack Vials At Route 46 Motel: South Hackensack PD Wanted Sex Offender Had 400 Heroin Folds, Crack Vials At Route 46 Motel: South Hackensack PD
Wanted Sex Offender Had 400 Heroin Folds, Crack Vials At Route 46 Motel: South Hackensack PD A registered sex offender with a mounting pile of outstanding warrants was caught with hundreds of heroin folds and crack vials during a South Hackensack police stop, authorities said. Robert Norman, 39, of Wantage, was a passenger in a 2006 Volkswagen Passat stopped by Detectives Brian Kropp and Sean Bannon for several violations after it pulled away from the Congress Inn motel on Route 46, Detective Sgt. James Donatello said. Norman, who's known to police in North Jersey, tried identifying himself as "Abdullah Booker," the sergeant said. The detectives seized Norman after determining tha…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Firefighters Stung By Bees While Battling Illegal West Milford Apartment Blaze Firefighters Stung By Bees While Battling Illegal West Milford Apartment Blaze
Firefighters Stung By Bees While Battling Illegal West Milford Apartment Blaze Three firefighters were treated for bee stings in an overnight fire that destroyed what turned out to be an illegal apartment found in a shed outside a West Milford home, authorities said. A resident also was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation after what began as a brush fire on Dudley Street off Broadway shortly after midnight Monday, Oct. 24. The first arriving units also found a shed on fire and flames approaching a house on the property. They searched the shed -- which had beds and a kitchen -- and didn't find any victims, according to the West Milford Fire Marshal's Office. Th…

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by Jerry DeMarco