Keansburg Mom Nearly Dies Trying To Save Puppy From Fire

KEANSBURG, NJ — 4:38 a.m. Sunday, May 14. Mother's Day. Nearly everyone in the tiny town of Keansburg, NJ was asleep. But not at 425 Main St.

A fire had broken out in an unoccupied third-floor bedroom of the home. While it's still not clear how it began, the fire started in a "man cave-type room" used by the dad, Joseph Besner, his stepdaughter, Deanna Green, told Patch. Green, 20, was staying at her boyfriend's across the street, and that's where she was when the fire started. She woke up to the smell of smoke and sirens and raced across the street.

Besner, 39, had woken up first and was trying to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher. But the fire was growing too quickly, spreading too fast. By this point the smoke woke the couple's 15-year-old daughter, Jasmine, sleeping down the hall, and their 9-year-old son, Joseph. As Besner fought the flames, Jasmine ran down to her mother's second-floor bedroom. Before they raced downstairs to safety, Kimberly Deliman, 40, turned to her teenage daughter. "Where's the puppy?"

Dale was the family's 4-month-old Pomeranian. Deliman had bought the dog recently, and that night he had been sleeping in Jasmine's room. The puppy was still upstairs.

"I tried to go back up to the third floor to get him, but the smoke was too heavy," said Jasmine. "So my mom just turned and ran upstairs. She didn't hesitate at all."

By this point the fire had gotten out of control. The carpeting, the wooden furniture — everything in the man cave ignited. Besner had run back downstairs to make sure the family's other dog, a rescue pit bull, had gotten out. Somehow, he and his wife missed each other as she ran back up. When Besner ran out into the front yard, the kids told him where Mom was: Back upstairs getting the puppy.

"He went back in. He said by then it had gotten completely dark and the whole third floor was filled with smoke," Green said. "He really couldn't see much. He more or less just felt for her, and found her lying on the floor. He tried to drag her downstairs, but he said he could hardly breathe."

Overcome by smoke, Deliman had passed out on the top floor. She was lying in the hallway, unconscious. By this point, three Keansburg police officers arrived, Patrolmen Frank Wood, Brian Von Bargen and John Murray. They couldn't get through the front door at first because the smoke was too thick. They saw Besner trying to drag his wife's body out of the home, but he was struggling. The officers managed to make it inside, and they grabbed Deliman and carried her out.

The couple was taken by medevac from the Keansburg High School football field to the St. Barnabas burn unit. The two younger children were taken to Bayshore Community Hospital, where they were treated for minor smoke inhalation.

Both Besner and Deliman had been burned. Besner was released Monday, but Deliman is still at St. Barnabas in Livingston. She was badly injured. She has first-degree burns on her face, which may scar, her daughter said. And she's been on a ventilator since Sunday because her lungs swelled up from inhaling too much smoke.

"My mom is conscious but sedated. She can't talk, but she can write to us," said Green. "The first thing she said was that she loved us all and that she was upset about the dog. But I also know she's really uncomfortable."

Green and her boyfriend went back into the home after it was all over, to salvage as much as they could. They found Dale's remains on the third floor. Red Bank Veterinary Hospital cremated the dog for free.

Jasmine and Joseph are now staying at their aunt's house in Old Bridge. Jasmine's bedroom, on the third floor, was destroyed by flames. All her clothes, including her prom dress, were burned.

But the one bright side is how the close-knit, blue-collar town of Keansburg has rallied around them. Jennifer Vecchiarelli, the principal of the Keansburg High School, paid for Jasmine's new prom dress and will pay for her hair and makeup on prom night. The town has raised $4,238 for the family so far through a fundrasing page. Many of their neighbors are offering clothes, food and a free place to live.

Patrolman John Murray, in particular, has been a standout. He checks on the kids every day, Green says, to see how they're doing. He offered to take the family to an animal shelter and buy them a new dog.

Green said the entire family is still in shock over what happened.

"My stepdad is OK. I think he feels guilty about the whole thing because the fire started in his man cave," she said. "I know my mom almost died. But I'm not surprised she did that. She loved that dog as much as she loved one of her kids, with all her heart. That's just who my mom is. She would do anything for a dog or someone she loved."

"My mom knew how much we loved that dog. She did this for us," said Jasmine.

Original Patch article: Couple Airlifted, Puppy Dies In Keansburg Fire On Mother's Day