Man Dies And Woman Escapes Through Window During Jersey City Fire

JERSEY CITY, NJ — The Hudson County Regional Arson Task Force and the Jersey City Fire Department are investigating a fire that killed a man and sent a woman to the hospital, they said.

Shortly before 6:50 a.m. on Monday, the Jersey City Fire Department received a 911 call for a fire at a home at 269 Stegman St., on the city's West Side.

First responders confronted heavy fire, prosecutors said. Inside, they found an unresponsive man, tentatively identified as Christopher Williams, 54, of Jersey City. He was taken to Jersey City Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead just after 7:30 a.m.

A 41-year-old woman escaped through a window, prosecutors say. She was treated at the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and has since been released.

A woman posting on Facebook said it was her grandmother's house, and that her sister was injured and having tests at the hospital, but "by the grace of whoever watches over her she has no broken bones or fractures."

She said her sister was alert enough to remove the air conditioning unit to get out.

But as for her uncle, Williams, "despite nearly half an hour of the medical team fighting they were not able to save him."

A preliminary investigation by the Hudson County Regional Arson Task Force determined the fire originated in the front enclosed porch of 269 Stegman St., prosecutors said. The cause remains under investigation.

The Hudson County Regional Arson Task Force is investigating with assistance from the Jersey City Fire Department. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Prosecutor’s Office at 201-915-1345 or to leave a tip at: http://www.hudsoncountyprosecu...homicide-tip/. All information will be kept confidential.