2 girls killed in Newark fire at multi-family home overnight, officials say
NEWARK, N.J. -- Two girls, 6 and 8, died in a fire that tore through a multi-family home overnight in Newark, New Jersey, according to investigators.
Video shows a large response to 26 Eckert Ave., as emergency crews tried to get the flames and billowing smoke inside the home under control shortly after midnight Sunday.
"I called 911. First responders were here within minutes, and they came strong," neighbor Shonda Simpson said. "People were doing whatever they could do get the kids out and it wasn't doable."
Detectives found the two little girls lying unresponsive on the ground with severe burns, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said.
Efforts to resuscitate the children were unsuccessful and they were pronounced dead at the scene, officials said.
"Beautiful girls, beautiful family," Simpson said.
Girls were playing with fire during birthday party, witnesses report
The cause of the fire has not been determined, but investigators said witnesses reported the girls were "playing with fire near a couch in the hallway" during a birthday party for one of them on the second floor.
Investigators determined the fire started on the second floor. Windows on the second and third floors were completely blown out during the fire.
Newark fire officials did not immediately say how many people were injured in the fire or how it started, but the Red Cross said 15 people in seven families were receiving emergency assistance.
"Thank God that I'm here, but I've lost everything"
Linwood Duncan, who lives in a unit at the multi-family home, told CBS News New York that several families reside there.
Duncan said he's lucky to be alive, since he decided to spend the night at his son's place because another tenant was throwing a birthday party and he wanted to avoid the noise.
"There were two different families on the sun porch and there was another family that lived on the second floor. I'm only here by the grace of God, because they had took the furniture out of the front room on the second floor and put it inside the hallway. So I wouldn't have been able to get downstairs. I thank God that I'm here, but I've lost everything," he said.
Another neighbor added, "I'm also left with nothing. I lost my things. I have nothing. Tomorrow I go back to work and I don't have shoes or anything."
Impacted families were getting help with temporary lodging, food, clothing and other necessities, the Red Cross said in a statement to CBS News New York.