Two children dead after fire spreads through several South Jersey homes
The blaze erupted late Wednesday night in Millville, Cumberland County, and left more than 20 people homeless, the mayor said.
Two girls, ages 8 and 10, have died after a fire destroyed two homes and damaged four others in Millville, Cumberland County, authorities said Thursday night.
Millville Mayor Benjamin Romanik said in a statement that the fire started late Wednesday night on the 300 Block of South Fourth Street by Railroad Avenue, and by the time firefighters arrived, two houses were already in flames.
“The fire quickly spread, completely destroying two homes and damaging four other ones. Unfortunately, there were two fatalities. In addition, over twenty people lost their homes,” Romanik said.
Another official said the fatalities were the two girls.
Authorities said that the fire caused two homes to fully collapse.
No injuries were reported to firefighters, who continued to battle the fire Thursday morning.
Authorities said firefighters’ efforts to extinguish the fire were complicated by water-supply issues, as they needed hundreds of feet of hose to hook up to a fire hydrant. The closest fire hydrant was broken, authorities said.
Additionally, the collapse of two of the houses caused breaks in the natural gas line, authorities said, and began feeding the fire with gas.