04/18/2024
Last night, April 17, 2024, 15 members of the Minotola Volunteer Fire Company were recognized by the Atlantic County Firefighters' Association and the Atlantic County Board of County Commissioners for their exemplary services performed during the August 2023 house explosion and structure fire with multiple victims in the Borough of Buena.
We are proud of our volunteer members’ selfless service and dedication to the residents of the Borough of Buena. These actions demonstrate their high level of commitment to duty, which brings great credit to our organization.
On August 3, 2023, the Minotola Volunteer Fire Company, along with mutual aid companies, responded to the report of a building explosion with multiple entrapments. Incident Command was established with a report of a fully involved residential structure collapse. Two victims were medevaced and four victims were unaccounted for. The Atlantic City Bomb Squad was on location and firefighting operations were suspended multiple times so that the Bomb Squad could mitigate explosives still present. Once the scene was deemed safe, firefighting and recovery operations continued and utilized many responders from multiple agencies. The bodies of three of the missing victims were recovered by the end of the first day and the remaining one was recovered in the afternoon of the next day. The members of the Minotola Volunteer Fire Company were on location for over 30 hours during this most tragic event.
Chief Joseph Kaspar
Deputy Chief Louis Nardone
Captain Mark Dixon
Captain Dominick Pace
Firefighter James Abba, Jr.
Firefighter Anthony Abriola
Firefighter Kevin Chapman
Firefighter Richard Crowell
Firefighter Robert LaPorta
Firefighter Steve LaPorta
Firefighter Justin Lilla
Candidate Firefighter Joseph D’Alessandro, III
Candidate Firefighter Caleb Dixon
Candidate Firefighter Sophia LaPorta
Candidate Firefighter Josh Martinez
