Bergen Man Dies In Car Fire While Stuck In Snow: Cops

LITTLE FERRY, NJ — A New Jersey man is dead after his car caught fire while he tried to get it out of a snowy embankment near Losen Slote Creek Park, Little Ferry Police Captain Ronald Klein Jr. said Thursday.

The 62-year-old Little Ferry man drove into the soccer field parking lot before it was plowed Wednesday morning, where it became disabled, Klein said.

Shortly after 9 a.m. a Department of Public Works employee called police to report the disabled vehicle, and police responded to the scene shortly after.

Officers offered to help the man — who has not been named — but he gave little response to them, Klein said. He continued rocking his car back and forth, trying to remove it from the embankment himself.

Police were walking back to their cars to clear additional space for the man when they heard a popping noise, Klein said, and saw the initial flames of the fire that took the man's life.

Officers grabbed a fire extinguisher and attempted to put out the fire and remove the man from the vehicle by breaking windows after discovering that the car doors were locked.

Eventually a back rear window was broken through, but the smoke and flames became impossible to manage, and officers couldn't save the man.

"It went up very fast," said Klein.

The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office is assisting in the investigation, which is ongoing.

Keep up to date with what's happening in your community by subscribing to your local Patch newsletter here.