Press Release - Nelson Avenue Fire

Below is a press release from Milton Police Chief Dan Layber.


On September 5, 2013, at approximately 3pm, the Milton Police Department received a report of a residential fire, with visible flames and smoke, in the 900 block of Nelson Avenue in the City of Milton. Officers responded to the scene, entered the residence to attempt to notify residents of the fire and also made contact with the reporting party in the rear yard of the residence. The reporting party, Edward Berlanga, 22, of Parkview Drive, Milton, had observed the flames and smoke while driving on N. Janesville Street, stopped to report the fire, and using the garden hose at the residence on fire, put out the flames on the second story, attached deck as police were arriving. Police finished putting out the smoldering areas of the deck as the fire department arrived and took over the fire scene. At the time of the fire there was one adult male in the residence that emerged from the residence after Berlanga and emergency personnel arrived and put out the fire.

Mr. Berlanga is to be commended for his reporting of the fire and his active intervention in putting out the fire before it spread to the rest of the house thereby, potentially endangering the safety of the resident. His quick thinking and actions are well above what is expected in such a situation and deserve our community’s thanks for a job well done.