Judge Orders Evidence in Deadly Millville, NJ, Fire Preserved

The family of two girls killed in a massive Cumberland County fire in April plans to sue, and a judge has approved an order preserving potential evidence in the case.

Valery Mariana Cardona Gomez, 13, and Gissel Samanta “Sammy” Cardona Gomez, 11, died when a blaze tore through a half dozen residences on the 300 block of South 4th Street in Millville on the evening of April 9.

More than 20 residents were displaced.

The bodies of the two girls were recovered from the rubble of their destroyed duplex a day after the fire.

Their father, Jhon Rodriguez, told CBS3 he and his girlfriend grabbed their 2-year-old twins and ran outside as flames consumed their home. Speaking through an interpreter, Rodriguez said that he believed the older daughters were also on their way out of the duplex but the structure collapsed and they were trapped inside.

Millville Fire Chief John Wettstein said Monday that an investigation into the cause and origin of the fire was completed but that he has been directed by city officials not to comment publicly because of litigation related to the incident.

In a state Superior Court filing from May, 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 filing 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 while the plaintiffs conduct their reviews.

The order does not prevent routine testing of the hydrants and does not pertain to utility lines beyond the burned properties, according to court documents.

Officials with the City of Millville, South Jersey Gas, Atlantic City Electric and Centuolo Development LLC, which owns one of the properties, signed the consent order.

Two houses were fully engulfed when firefighters arrived around 11 p.m. on April 9, the city fire chief said a day after the blaze. It took about four hours to bring the fire under control, Wettstein said.

High winds and a gas leak caused when falling structures severed a gas line helped fuel the blaze, officials said.

Fire officials said the fire hydrant closest to the scene wasn’t working. Firefighters were able to run lines to nearby hydrants to continue fighting the blaze.

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 of the girls, Wettstein said at the time.

The fire was not believed to be suspicious and investigators think it likely began in the duplex where the victims lived, Wettstein said in April.

The sisters were born in Bogota, Colombia, and lived in Bridgeton before moving to Millville 2-and-a-half years ago, according to their obituary. They attended Bishop Schad Regional School, a Catholic school in Vineland, and were inseparable, according to their family.

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