A local family lost all of their belongings in the fire at the Historic Van Mater Farmhouse Monday night. They are in dire need and are hoping the public will help. The 170 year old farmhouse can possibly be restored but what most matters right now is the devastating loss to this Bayshore family. Please read the article below and spread the word.

Asbury Park Press Update

No major injuries in Hazlet house fire

By Michelle Sahn • November 27, 2007

HAZLET — When fire gutted a house on Stone Road and Poole Avenue here, it destroyed a historic structure, and dealt one family who lived there a blow that has left them all but destitute.

Joseph McLane said he and his family were already in the process of moving to a new home in Keansburg,when the Monday night blaze upended their hopes for a happy holiday season.

The owners had already sold the old farmhouse to a developer, McLane said. And although many considered it a piece of history, he said he didn't know if it was an actual historic site.

"Everything we had was in that house,'' McLane said. ""We lost our winter clothes. Our household goods, our bedding. Everything. I don't know what to do. We don't know where to turn.''

The cause of the fire is under investigation, said Hazlet Detective Jeff Miller. A firefighter's cut face was the only physical casualty, officials said.

The house was empty when Police Officer Will Marvel spotted the smoke at 6:40 p.m., Miller said.

But McLane said he was emotionally devastated as he stood in the rain watching fire companies from Hazlet, Union Beach, Keyport and Matawan battle the blaze.

The house had been divided into three living sections and investigators believe the fire started on the lower level of the old farm house, Miller said. The house is no longer habitable, he added.

McLane said he had helped overhaul many a house as a volunteer firefighter in North Sayreville. Yet that didn't prepare him for the emotional toll this fire would take.

"I cried when I peeled my kids' baby pictures off of the couch," said. "That's a lifetime's worth of memories and it's now in garbage bags."

The family's washing machine was melted into a blob of metal, he said.

"They say material things don't mean a lot. But they do when you lose everything," he said.

McLane said if there's anyone who has winter clothing, bedding or old household goods he'd appreciate the help.

"It's not for me," he said. "It's my wife, Shirley. She's been sick and then there's our kids,'' he said. Daughter, Kayla, 14, and son, Joseph, 13, lost all of their clothes in the fire, he added.

"I'm hoping there might be someone who can help us out. We're at our wit's end," he said.

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