Apartment Fire In Essex County Claims Man’s Life: Officials

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Officials are investigating a fatal fire that took place in Essex County on Monday morning. The blaze claimed the life of a 57-year-old man, authorities said.

East Orange police and fire units responded to an alarm at a multi-unit apartment building on the 100-block of Watson Avenue around 6:30 a.m., according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. Arriving firefighters observed smoke coming from an apartment in the building, then made a forced entry meeting a fire and a heavy smoke condition, prosecutors said.

Emergency responders found an unresponsive male on the floor of the apartment where the fire originated. He was later identified as Raymond Beasley, 57, a resident of the home, prosecutors said.

The blaze was “essentially contained to one apartment” and was quickly extinguished by firefighters, prosecutors stated.

Emergency responders transported Beasley to East Orange General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:27 a.m., according to Chief Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Fennelly of the Homicide Unit.

The cause and origin of the fire is being investigated by detectives from the prosecutor’s Major Crimes Task Force. An investigation is ongoing, but at this time the cause “does not appear to be suspicious,” Fennelly said.

Anyone with information can call the Prosecutor's Tips Line at (877) 847-7432.

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