Probe Ongoing After 2 Children Killed In South Jersey House Fire

Police and fire department investigators are continuing an investigation into a house fire this week that killed a South Jersey adult and two children, according to police.

The incident happened at 1:49 a.m. Monday when Bridgeton police and fire department personnel responded to 15 Park Avenue off Route 49, just west of the intersection of Route 49 and Burlington Road. There, they discovered the two-story structure fully involved, according to police.

Two children – a 5-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl – and their 28-year-old father died at the scene, according to Chief of Police Michael Gaimari and Fire Chief Todd Bowen. Three other family members who lived in the second-floor apartment where the fire is suspected to have started made it out of the structure, police said.

They include the 26-year-old mother of the children and her 10-month-old son, along with a 33-year-old male relative. They were being treated at Crozier-Chester Medical Center and St. Christopher’s Hospital in Pennsylvania respectively while the male relative was taken to Inspira Hospital in Vineland for observation.

Police and fire officials stated that all the occupants of the second-floor apartment were members of the same family and that two people, a 27-year-old female and her 2-year-old daughter who lived in the first-floor apartment, also got out of the structure safely.

The fire remains under investigation. We'll have more information as it comes in.

Tom Davis photo