6 Dead in Newark House Fire (Video)

Six people were killed in a fire that ripped through a Newark home early this morning.

Fire officials say the fire started in a two-story home on South 15th Street near Madison Avenue just before 4 a.m. The flames also spread to the house next door.

Neighbors say a woman lived at the home with her daughter and two young grandchildren. They had moved to Newark several years ago from the island of St. Vincent, according to the neighbors.

The neighbors also said a woman who showed up at the house Sunday morning screaming is the mother of an 11-year old who may have been in the house at the time.

The fire spread to a home next door, but residents there were able to make it out safely. Both homes were destroyed.

The fire doesn’t appear to be suspicious, but the cause remains under investigation, said Thomas Fennelly, chief assistant prosecutor.

All that remained of the home Sunday afternoon was the charred frame, with piles of blackened, twisted furniture and belongings spilling out of the empty sills that once held windows. The white fence around the front of the property was still intact.

A small storefront church called Tree of Life Ministries, adjacent to the burned home, appeared undamaged. Neighbors gathered outside the home – many in their Sunday church clothes – shaking their heads at the loss of so many lives.

Agencies/Canadajournal