Father and 2 children killed in Bridgeton, New Jersey house fire
BRIDGETON, N.J. (WPVI) -- Authorities said an overnight house fire in Bridgeton has claimed the lives of a boy, a girl and their father, and left a woman, a man and a baby hospitalized.
The fire broke out at 1:49 a.m. Monday at a home in the unit block of Park Avenue.
A man who wished to remain anonymous said the fatal fire started above his two-year-old daughter's bedroom.
"The first officer I saw I was like 'Where is my family?'" he said. "I really thought I was going to collapse because I was thinking the worst.
His 27-year-old fiancé and their child were able to make it out of the burning home unscathed after a neighbor alerted them to the growing blaze.
Firefighters said they arrived on scene to find heavy flames coming from the second floor.
Two children - a five-year-old boy and a six-year-old female - along with their 28-year-old father died at the scene, according to Chief of Police Michael Gaimari and Fire Chief Todd Bowen.
Three other family members who lived in the second-floor apartment, where the fire is suspected to have started, made it out of the structure and are being treated at area hospitals.
They include the 26-year-old mother of the children, her 10-month-old son and a 33-year-old male relative.
A 27-year-old woman and her 2-year-old daughter, who both lived in the first-floor apartment, also got safely. They were not hurt.
Officials say all the occupants of the home were related to each other.
Fire investigators said had fire detectors been installed in the home there might have been a different outcome.
"They could have been alerted quicker to the presence of a fire, got out and escape safely," said Bridgeton Fire Chief Todd Bowern. "Or alert us faster, so that when we arrive it wasn't as advanced as it was."
Police and fire investigators are still working to determine what sparked the blaze.
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