Fire in Two-Story New Jersey House Kills Mother, Son

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- An elderly woman and her son were killed Sunday when a fire swept through the two-family home they shared, fire officials said.

The 88-year-old woman and the 55-year-old man were not identified pending notification of relatives. Neighbors told fire officials that the woman was well known in the neighborhood.

``She was like the mother of the neighborhood,'' fire department spokesman Thaddeus Kennedy said. ``She had watched a lot of them grow up.''

The fire was reported around 9 a.m. and brought under control within 20 minutes, Kennedy said. The pair were found on the second floor of the brick house.

Residents on the first floor were evacuated, and the fire spread to an adjacent house where residents also had to be evacuated, he said.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation.