Investigators said a fire in Newark, New Jersey, destroyed a multi-family home overnight, killing two children, ages 6 and 8.
Shortly after midnight on Sunday, emergency personnel attempted to contain the fire and rising smoke inside the house, resulting in a massive response, as seen on video at 26 Eckert Ave.
“I called 911. First responders were here within minutes, and they came strong,” neighbor Shonda Simpson stated. “People were doing whatever they could do get the kids out and it wasn’t doable.”
According to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, detectives discovered the two little girls severely burned and unconscious on the ground. The youngsters were declared dead at the scene after futile attempts at resuscitation, according to officials.
“Beautiful girls, beautiful family,” Simpson stated.
Witnesses said that during the birthday celebration, girls were playing with fire.
Investigators noted that while the cause of the fire is still unknown, witnesses said that the girls were “playing with fire near a couch in the hallway” during a second-floor birthday celebration for one of them.
Investigators found that the second floor was where the fire began. During the fire, windows on the second and third stories were totally destroyed.
The Red Cross reported that 15 individuals in seven families were receiving emergency help, but Newark fire officials could not immediately disclose the number of casualties or the cause of the fire.
Several families dwell in the multi-family home, according to Linwood Duncan, who lives in one of the apartments.
Since he chose to spend the night at his son’s house because another tenant was hosting a birthday party and he didn’t want to be among the commotion, Duncan said he’s grateful to be alive.
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“There were two different families on the sun porch and there was another family that lived on the second floor. I’m only here by the grace of God, because they had took the furniture out of the front room on the second floor and put it inside the hallway. So I wouldn’t have been able to get downstairs. I thank God that I’m here, but I’ve lost everything,” he stated.
Another neighbor stated that, “I’m also left with nothing. I lost my things. I have nothing. Tomorrow I go back to work and I don’t have shoes or anything.”
