MILLVILLE, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — Residents of Millville in Cumberland County want answers after a fire last week left two young sisters dead and displaced nearly two dozen people.
The cause of last Wednesday night’s fire, which spread across six homes on Fourth Street near Railroad Avenue, is still under investigation. However, officials said the response was certainly hindered when the cap on the nearest fire hydrant got stuck, then the hydrant itself broke as firefighters tried to get it off.
Resident Sean Thom was bothered by that when he spoke up at Tuesday evening’s Board of Commissioners meeting.
“It should be unfathomable to think that our city can allow fire hydrants to not be in working order in the most densely populated area of our city, which impacts response efficiency,” he said.
Darrius Smith said he wanted accountability in the wake of the fire, which killed two sisters, ages nine and 13, and displaced 21 people. One other man was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. “I’m also asking for hydrant inspection records for the past 24 months,” he said.
“When you’re lackadaisical in one area, it has a downstream effect on everything else. And that’s why I’m up here, because I want to force transparency and accountability.”
However, Vice Mayor Joseph Sooy said investigators need time to gather all the facts before any additional information could be released.
“The reason we can’t discuss too much is because our insurance company’s lawyers don’t want us to,” said Sooy.
“We’re not heartless people up here, we have to follow the law,” added Public Safety Director Charles Kirk Hewitt, “and unfortunately, I — even as public safety director — cannot sidestep that law. When we can release, we will release information. We will release what we can.”
According to preliminary information, Millville’s fire chief does not believe the fire was caused by foul play.