NEWARK, N.J. (1010 WINS) — Two young girls, ages 6 and 8, died and eight others were injured in a house fire in Newark early Sunday morning, and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the blaze.
The fire broke out around midnight at the home at 26 Eckert Ave., which housed multiple families.
When detectives arrived on the scene, they found the girls, ages 6 and 8, unresponsive on the ground with severe burns to their bodies. Efforts were made to resuscitate the victims, but they were pronounced dead at the scene, prosecutors said.
A “Happy Birthday“ banner was still hanging at the home later Sunday morning, left from a party celebrating one of the children who died.
Witnesses told prosecutors that the girls were playing with fire near a couch in the hallway. An investigation found that the fire originated on the second floor, where the two girls perished, and spread up to the third floor.
Lynwood Duncan, who lives at the residence but was at his son’s house at the time of the fire, said that he had complained to the landlord about code violations, like furniture blocking the hallway and an overflow of tenants on the porch.
“Multiple families were living on the porch. Yesterday they said they were having a birthday party,” Duncan told 1010 WINS. “With the birthday party and stuff, they brought all the furniture out, and they put it in the stairwell. Thank God I was at my son’s in the house, because if I was home, I wouldn't have been able to get out.”
On Sunday morning, the Red Cross said that it was assisting at least 15 people from 7 different families, and that it expects to render aid to more who were unable to immediately meet with the organization.
Officials have not yet released information on the type or severity of injuries those hurt in the fire experienced.
Simpson lived next door to the children, who were part of what she called a “beautiful family,” and said that the loss is painful.
“The two losses a tremendous blow,” she told 1010 WINS. “But I'm grateful for the first responders that showed up on the scene because it could have been worse.”
The fire is under investigation by detectives from the Prosecutor's Crime Scene Investigations Bureau, which includes detectives from the Newark Fire Department.
The official cause of the fire is still under investigation.