UPDATE: Fire at Vacant Ensign Court Home Extinguished

A Wednesday morning fire at a Snug Harbor home left vacant since Superstorm Sandy has been extinguished, police said.

The blaze at the two-story 1846 Ensign Court home was reported by a neighbor at about 8:30 a.m., according to Toms River Chief of Police Michael Mastronardy. 

Fire companies from Silverton, Pleasant Plains, East Dover and Toms River, No. 1 and 2, responded and extinguished the blaze, the chief said. 

The homeowner, Andrew Pinto, was not home at the time of the fire, said Toms River Fire Prevention Bureau Director James Mercready. 

"While the fire remains under investigation, investigators cannot rule out a mechanical malfunction of an air conditioning unit from the cause of the fire," Mercready said. 

The house was deemed unsafe because of the damage sustained in the fire. Since the home sustained damaged from Sandy, Pinto was awaiting a determination of whether it should be repaired or demolished, Mercready said.

Toms River Bureau of Fire Prevention Inspectors John Novak and Kevin Esposito, along with Toms River police and the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, are investigating the fire, according to Mercready. 

"Numerous police and fire apparatus on location. This area is shut down to local traffic," reads a posting made Wednesday before 10 a.m. to the Ocean County Sheriff Department's Communications Center Facebook page. "Please use caution when approaching as you will be detoured."

Photos submitted to Patch show fire and heavy smoke pouring from the lagoon home with a fire engine nearby. 

Another home left vacant since Sandy next door received "some damaged" from the fire, Mastronardy said.