Police call fire at Camp Sussex suspicious

VERNON — Vernon police are calling a fire at Camp Sussex that totaled two cabins early Sunday evening suspicious.

Police responded to a report of a "large amount of smoke" from the campgrounds at 5:42 p.m., Lt. Brian Jernick said.

Sgt. Jason Haw responded to the scene and observed two bunk houses fully engulfed in flames, Jernick said.

All of Vernon's fire departments responded to the scene to put out the fires. Jernick said the fires were put out quickly.

Jernick said the fire was "definitely suspicious" due to the fact that the camp has been abandoned and the two bunks were far apart from each other, with other bunks in between.

Detectives from the Vernon Township Police Department are working with the Vernon Township Fire Marshall's Office, Sussex County Fire Marshall's Office, Sussex County Prosecutor's Office and State Forest Fire Service on the investigation.

The camp, located on County Route 565, has been vacant for the past decade.

The Vernon Township Council has proposed using Open Space and Farmland Preservation funds to acquire the property. Empire Tax Fund purchased township's tax liens earlier this year and took ownership of the property through the foreclosure process.

The Advertiser News has submitted an Open Records Act request to the town for the records of the tax lien sale, but has not received a copy. The tax collector's office and town assessor's office referred requests for records of the sale to the office of Vernon Mayor Vic Marotta, who said he did not know the terms of the sale.

Marotta has previously stated that the town received more than $400,000 from the tax sale.

Marotta said the town's acquisition of the property could cost the town about $500,000. Sally Rinker, who led a petition drive to oppose the purchase, said the actual cost could be more than $1 million. Marotta has said there is about $1 million in the Open Space fund account.

Rinker was able to obtain enough signatures on a petition to put the town's acquisition of the property up for a referendum, but the council has voted to challenge the legality of the petition in court.

On Monday, Marotta said the fire at the camp "certainly does look suspicious"

Marotta said he was waiting for the investigation to be completed, but believes the fire "kind of gives the truth to the things we have been saying all along" in regards to trespassers on the property.

"Things are happening over there that shouldn't be," he said. "Thank goodness nobody was hurt."

Lowen Hankin, a manager with Empire Tax Fund, which owns Camp Sussex under a subsidiary, Empire TFI Jersey Holdings, said "there have been people trespassing on the property" and believes those people are to blame for Sunday's fire.

Hankin also could not provide details of the fund's acquisition of the camp.