Four people have died, including a teenager and an infant, after a fire tore through a two-story home on the Jersey Shore.
Emergency crews arrived to the scene on Buttonwood Drive in Lacey Township on Tuesday afternoon after receiving a report about “a structure fire with entrapment” at around 12:30 p.m. local time, according to apress releasefrom the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.
Emergency personnel reportedly found the building “fully engulfed” in flames in the Lanoka Harbor section of the township, the prosecutor’s office said.
Five people were trapped inside the two-story residence, but only 67-year-old Brenda Wright was able to be rescued from the back of the building. She was later transported to Community Medical Center, where she is in stable condition.
Crews attempted to rescue the four other victims but were eventually forced to evacuate the building. The roof of the structure ultimately collapsed.
Officials identified the victims as Jennifer Wright, 39, and Alaina Wright, 34. A 14-year-old female and a 4-month-old infant also died.
All four victims “were occupants of the residence” that burned down on Tuesday, prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said in the release on Wednesday.
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Officials are not ruling out “improperly discarded smoking material” as the cause of the fire. However, the incident “has been ruled accidental,” according to Billhimer.
“This is an unspeakable tragedy, and our prayers are with the loved ones of these victims,” he added.
“We came out and everything was just black smoke,” Alicia Kemp told the outlet. “There were more explosions, maybe seven other ones after that. It was awful."
“She was telling us there were four more people in the house and I was like, ‘Who?’ And she was like, ‘the kids,'” the neighbor added.
A third neighbor, who has not been named, toldNews 12 New Jerseythat he used a cinder block to bust an air conditioning unit out of place so he could enter the house. Getting inside, however, proved to be difficult.
“I looked and you couldn’t get entry. There was so much stuff in the house,” the neighbor explained. “When I kicked the back door, it wouldn’t even open.”
Per News 12, flowers and candles were spotted on the curb in front of the home on Wednesday.
source: people.com