(Jersey City-WABC, November 17, 2004) -- Police say an elderly preacher lost his life trying to rescue a young child he thought was trapped inside a burning house. Eyewitness News reporter Kemberly Richardson is in Jersey City with the latest.
Peter Gusuta will be missed. He was a reverend at a nearby church here in this community.
When fire hit overnight he safely made it out of his home at 172 Van Noster Avenue. The upper floors of that home are now blackened and houses on either side were damaged.
It's a multi-family dwelling, and as he watched it burn around 10:00pm, Gusuta became afraid that a child was trapped inside. He ran back into the burning building.
The 72-year-old must have been frantic. He was probably desperately trying to find that child. But the conditions inside the building were unbearable. The smoke and the heat were intense, and proved to be too much for him.
He never made it out. Crews later found his body after putting out the flames.
And it turns out, the child he feared was trapped had made it out safely.
The Red Cross is now helping 11 people who lived in that home. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
