NJ Crews Battle Fatal 5-Alarm Blaze for Hours
By Michael Sheridan
Source New York Daily News
Two young girls died in a blaze that burned through a building in New Jersey, authorities said.
The children, ages 7 and 11, were killed and several others injured when the fire consumed a building in Elizabeth on Monday, officials said. The fire started around 6 p.m. in a building on Elizabeth Ave. near Jaques St.
Three nearby police officers raced to the scene, and fought to rescue the children, ABC 7 News reported. However, they couldn’t reach the girls because of locked bars on the windows.
“It was like pop and then you would hear a scream and every time it would pop the flames would come bursting out,” Juan Diaz, a witness to the fire, told CBS 2 News.
As many as 100 firefighters soon were on the scene, and battled for more than three hours to bring the fire under control, authorities said. The bars were ultimately pried from the windows, allowing people to escape.
It is not clear how the unidentified children died. A man and a woman were also hospitalized after the fire, and more than 20 others lost their homes.
The burned-out building contained several apartments, and also businesses such as a furniture store and a “Dollar & Party” shop.
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