9-year-old girl killed in Newark fire, 2 other children hospitalized, prosecutors say
A 9-year-old girl is dead and two other children are injured following an overnight fire in Newark, New Jersey, the Essex County prosecutor's office says.
The fire broke out shortly before 2 a.m. on the upper floor of a three-story row house on Astor Street. Video from the scene showed the top floor windows completely burned out.
Essex County officials said the 9-year-old was pronounced dead at University Hospital, and two other children, 14 and 5, were hospitalized.
One woman told CBS News New York on the scene that her sister lives inside the home with several kids.
Witness describes rush to rescue the victims
The fire broke out while most people were sleeping.
"It's so bad, I don't want to remember that. I never see something like that in my life," Estevan Polanco said.
"We got everybody out, told people, grab your shoes and coats, get outside fast as possible, get the mother out because she was trying to get her daughter," Chris Evans said.
Evans and his family own the nearby corner market, and he said the children sometimes come by the store.
"We started calling 911, get them to 'come out, come out, come out.' But then the smoke got worse, and we see one of the little kids asking for help, so we started banging on doors to get everybody to wake up," Evans said. "The neighbor on the first floor opened the door for us, and we ran up in the building, banging on everybody's doors to get them to come out. Then everybody comes out, the little boy comes out and says his sister is stuck in a room."
"We looked up in the room, we went up there twice to try and get in there. It was too hot, so we came back, got some wet t-shirts, went back again," he continued. "The second time we tried to get back in there -- the third time, actually -- the cop came up and they told us to move."
"I live over here. They were banging on the window. I heard the noises and ran outside with the baby," Gabraela Polanco said. She managed to escape with her 16-month-old. "It's really sad, especially because I know the babies. They were always outside when they came home from school."
The Red Cross responded and is assisting two families with temporary shelter and emergency supplies.
Meanwhile, the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
