2 Family Members Killed In South Jersey House Fire: Police

PEMBERTON TOWNSHIP, NJ — Two people were killed in a house fire that destroyed a home in the Browns Mills section of Pemberton Township Tuesday night, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina and Pemberton Township Police Chief David H. Jantas announced.

Lore Smith, 92, was pronounced dead last night after being taken to Lourdes Emergency Department at Deborah Hospital in Pemberton Township, authorities said Wednesday afternoon. An elderly man was pronounced dead at the scene. His name is being withheld pending notification of family members.

CBS 3 reports they were members of the same family. The fire began in an attached garage and spread to the rest of the house, Pemberton Township Fire Chief Craig Augustoni told the news station.

Another man was taken to Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia and placed on a ventilator, police said. He is listed in stable condition with complications from smoke inhalation.

Autopsies on the decedents will be performed by Burlington County Medical Examiner Dr. Ian Hood.

An elderly couple lived in the single-story home with their adult son, according to 6 ABC. A neighbor told Fox 29 he tried to run inside the home and rescue his elderly neighbor, her boyfriend and her son, after having dropped the son off at the home moments earlier.

The cause of the fire is being investigated by the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office, the Pemberton Township Police Department, and the Burlington County Fire Marshal’s Office, under the direction of Fire Marshal Robert Carr Jr.

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