A five-alarm fire tore through a commercial building in northern New Jersey on Monday night, killing three young girls and one adult after a metal gate they tried to escape through would not open, according to a city spokesperson.
Kelly Martins, public information officer for the city of Elizabeth, confirmed the deaths in a phone call on Tuesday and said that ten fire companies responded to the blaze. An additional victim was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition, Martins said.
A fire report came in at roughly 6 p. Monday and local police were first to respond as the blaze quickly engulfed a two-story commercial building at Elizabeth Avenue, in the northern New Jersey city's downtown area.
Based on a preliminary investigation, the fire is believed to have been sparked by a faulty soda dispenser on the ground floor and quickly spread upstairs, where all the victims were located. At first the victims attempted to escape through a rear staircase, but smoke was too heavy.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/asia-map-56a378df3df78cf7727d8511.jpg "Sluts in Quiemo")
They then tried to exit through something that may have appeared to be an emergency exit that was blocked by a metal gate, Martins said. The police responded first β they tried to get them out by breaking through the gate and they could not. When fire department came, they were able to get through the gate and they pulled two victims from the fire, one adult and one child, and one child was taken out of the front.
