Discarded Cigarette May Have Sparked Fire that Claimed Two Girls in Millville, NJ

The cause of a massive fire that killed two children and displaced more than 20 in Cumberland County in April could not be definitively determined, according to investigators, but they said improperly discarded smoking materials may have sparked the blaze.

Valery Mariana Cardona Gomez, 13, and Gissel Samanta “Sammy” Cardona Gomez, 11, died when the fire destroyed multiple homes on the 300 block of South 4th Street in Millville on April 9.

Their family plans to file a lawsuit over the fire, listing the city, utility companies and a property owner as potential defendants in court documents.

Investigators determined the fire began on the front porch of the duplex where the girls lived at 327 South 4th St., according to police and fire investigation reports obtained by NJ Advance Media in response to an Open Public Records Act request.

After police concluded the fire was not a criminal matter, the investigation was turned over to Millville Fire Department.

The fire department’s report labeled the cause as undetermined, but the probe pointed to evidence of discarded cigarettes. The reports describe surveillance video that showed small amounts of smoke on the porch a few hours before the fire was reported.

The girls’ father acknowledged that he and his wife were smoking cigarettes hours earlier near the area where the fire began, according to a police investigation report, but he said their cigarettes were safely discarded.

Officials don’t accuse them or anyone else of starting the blaze.

“Evidence of improperly discarded smoking material was found around the area of origin,” the fire department report stated, adding that the first fuel ignited in the blaze consisted of “ordinary combustibles” on the front porch.

The porch surface was covered in green artificial turf and porch columns were wrapped with holiday garland, the report stated. Items on the porch included a table and chairs and some bicycles. A short wall around the porch was made of natural wood.

“The fire has been classified as undetermined until new evidence presents itself, however, I cannot rule out the possibility of improper discarded smoking material causing the fire,” primary investigator Tyler Van Leer, with the Millville Fire Department, wrote in his report.

Two residences were fully engulfed when firefighters arrived at the scene around 11 p.m. on April 9, fire officials previously said, noting that high winds and a gas leak caused when falling structures severed a gas line helped fuel the blaze.

In addition to the deaths of the two girls, their father, Jhon Rodriguez, was injured in the blaze.

In an interview with Millville Police, Rodriguez said he was asleep in his bedroom in the front of the house with his wife and their two young twin daughters when smoke alarms went off, according to a police investigation report.

He looked outside to see the fire was on the outside of the house, the report stated.

The parents went downstairs with the twins as the house filled with black smoke and exited through the back door because of smoke and fire at the front, Rodriguez told police.

After they were safely outside, Rodriguez said he went back inside for his two older daughters, who each had their own rooms, one on the second floor and the other on the third.

He went to 11-year-old Gissel’s room and woke her, telling her to yell for the older daughter, Valery, because he was coughing and choking from smoke, according to the police report.

Rodriguez heard the two girls and thought they went downstairs to escape the house ahead of him, he said. When he got back outside and asked his wife where they were, he was told they didn’t come out. At that point, he collapsed, according to the report.

Rodriguez was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation, according to the report.

He also told police that his 13-year-old daughter told him around 9:50 p.m. that night that she could smell smoke from outside and that something was burning, but he told her to shut the lights off and go to bed, the report stated.

Rodriguez told police that he and his wife last smoked cigarettes around 7 p.m. on the evening of the fire “in the front of the house where the fire was,” according to the police report.

He told investigators that they step on the cigarettes and throw them in a tin after smoking and dispose of the cigarettes on the sidewalk in front of the house, the report stated.

Surveillance footage from a nearby property showed the fire smoldered for a few hours, according to the reports.

“Preliminary footage showed a smoldering fire on the porch of 327 South 4th Street,” the police report stated. “The residents of the address were outside smoking hours prior to the incident. Small amounts of smoke could be seen on video as early as 8:23 p.m.

“It did not appear at that time that the fire was intentionally set or believed to be arson,” the police investigator wrote.

The attorney representing the family of the girls killed in the blaze did not respond to a request for comment about the investigation reports.

The family plans to file a lawsuit, according to court documents, and a judge recently approved an order preserving evidence in the case.

In a state Superior Court filing, an attorney for the family wrote that the plaintiffs plan to investigate and file a lawsuit over the deaths, and injuries to the girls’ father.

The family sought preservation of evidence related to the blaze, including the burned buildings, fire hydrants within a one-mile radius of the fire scene and electric and gas service lines for the destroyed properties.

A judge approved a consent order July 3 that prevents demolition or any alterations to the fire hydrants and utility lines in question for 120 days.

The family’s filing raises questions over the condition of fire hydrants in the area.

Fire officials said the hydrant closest to the scene wasn’t working on the night of the blaze, but firefighters were able to run lines to nearby hydrants to continue their work.

The inoperable hydrant had water running to it, but the cause of the malfunction remained under investigation, officials said in April.

While the hydrant issue slowed down the firefighting effort, it was not a factor in the deaths, Millville Fire Chief John Wettstein said previously.

A city engineer recommended in April that anti-tampering caps on Millville fire hydrants be removed as a precaution while that hydrant issue was examined, according to The Daily Journal. The news report quoted an email sent by the engineer to city leaders and some city staff.

The anti-tampering cap was rusted shut on the hydrant when firefighters tried to open it and an adapter broke off, rendering the hydrant unusable, according to the police investigation report on the April 9 fire.

The family’s court filing says fire hydrant issues, the severed gas line, live power lines and building collapse may have contributed to the severity of the incident.

In May, the family’s lawyer filed a tort notice with the city declaring their intention to seek wrongful death, compensatory and survivorship damages.

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