Officials say a telephone pole fire kicked off a chain of destruction in South Amboy.
Firefighters first responded to Henry Street Friday.
They evacuated the surrounding houses just minutes before a transformer exploded.
No one was injured, but a house that caught fire was destroyed.
"I went for a cup of coffee because I couldn't get back in the house and when I came back the house was on fire," says Hayden Nebus, of South Amboy.
No other houses caught fire.
The Red Cross is assisting the man who lost his home.