Couple dies in NJ apartment complex fire
PASSAIC, N.J. - A New Jersey couple was killed when a fire tore through their Passaic apartment complex Sunday morning, Mayor Hectora Lora told FOX 5 NY.
"A little bit after 9 o’clock this morning, first responders received a report of a fire on Spruce Street in the city of Passaic. Unfortunately, two senior citizens, a couple, a man and a woman over 70 years old, each succumbed to the fire and lost their lives," Lora said.
Fred and Yvonne Edwards
The prosecutor's office identified the couple as Fred and Yvonne Edwards.
The Passaic Fire Department arrived to find billowing flames from inside the apartment windows, towering through the roof.
Video captured by a neighbor shows firefighters working to contain the blaze from the roof.
Moments before, Gelson Perez was driving by when he saw those flames.
He told FOX 5 NY that he got out of his car and tried to help.
"It was too late. I knocked out the AC unit. I tried to come in through the door, but the flames were way too high, and it got difficult because I could’ve lost my life too," Perez said.
Neighbor Jade Kessel said she lived in the apartment above the elderly couple for more than 15 years.
She returned home from her breakfast run to thick plumes of smoke, telling FOX 5 NY her neighbor had just made breakfast before a fire in the stove got out of control.
"I noticed it was a lot of smoke. The door was cracked open. I’m asking if they were alright. Get out of there," Kessel said.
She remembers trying to instruct the couple to go to the room, to get them out through the window, but it was already blocked by then.
"In the process, I told him whatever you do, don’t throw no water on it and he must have thrown water on it and a big blaze shot out of the kitchen something like a movie," Kessel said.
Red Cross disaster responders provided emergency assistance to 10 people in 8 families for temporary lodging, food, and other immediate needs. The additional families evacuated earlier have been able to return to their homes.
The prosecutor's office is investigating the cause of the fire.