Six people were killed when fire ripped through a New Jersey home on early Sunday morning in Newark, Essex County officials said.
Starting around 4 a.m. at 818 South 15th St, the blaze spread through the single-family, three-story house and caught on to a house next door as well, damaging them both, according to the Newark Fire Department.
The house was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived, Reuters reported.
Once the blaze was extinguished, crews found six people dead inside the home, said Anthony Ambrose, Chief of Detectives at the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.
"We don't know exactly where it started at this point," Newark Deputy Fire Chief Richard Gail said. "There was a lot of fire, so that's going to take a little bit of working out to find the actual point of origin."
The identities of the victims have not been confirmed, Ambrose said.
According to CBS News, one neighbor tried to enter the home through the front door, but the flames were too intense, witnesses told WCBS 880′s Jim Smith.
"It's crazy," one neighbor told Smith. "They had fire just coming from the front of the house. The house blew up. The flames was uncontrollable."
"They're very good people," said James Johnson, the family's pastor. "They're from Saint Vincent ... from the islands, but they've been here for many years. And they're a part of my ministry. So I'm very shaken at this moment. And I'm still not clear as to what all has taken place."
"They was real sweet," neighbor Brion Cameron told 1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria. "The old lady, she had a nice heart. She was a calm person. If anything ever went wrong, and you needed her help, she was there."
The blaze was battled by eighty-five firefighters for two hours. According to 1010 WINS, firefighters were forced to retreat outside the house since the flames were overwhelming on the inside.
