House Fire Leaves 1 Dead, 1 Critical

LAUREL SPRINGS, N.J. - A house fire killed a 19-year-old Camden County man and left his girlfriend in critical condition Wednesday morning.

Authorities said both the man and woman had been in the basement of the home on the 900 block of Lakeview Avenue in Laurel Springs.

Seared into the memory of one neighbor was watching a handicapped father desperately trying to pull his son out of a basement window that was just too small, Fox 29's Julie Kim reported.

It was 6:20 a.m. Wednesday when neighbors scrambled towards the unfamiliar sound of sirens, hoping it wasn't serious.

"We got a call for a house fire, a house where people were trapped in the basement," Stratford Police Chief Michael Wolcott said.

There were a total of seven people in the home at the time of the blaze. The others were identified as the deceased's father, mother, brother and sister as well as an exchange student from Ireland. They all managed to get out of the house before emergency crews arrived.

"I saw smoke. There was smoke coming from all over the place," one neighbor said.

It was so smoky that the first firefighter on scene tried to get to the occupants trapped inside but had to be rescued himself after a mayday call over fire radios. He was later reported to be in good condition.

Neighbors described the residents as a nice, very tight family.

Neighbor Rebecca Tate said of the father, "He's in his wheelchair and he always had his dog and he's out three or four times a day. They're just a very nice family, and he had just said to me the other day how much he adored his dog and it was his best friend."

Now, that father has to deal with the death of his eldest son. Neighbors said it's hard for them to grasp -- even harder to imagine -- what the family is going through.

"We're just here for them and praying for them and, you know, we hope that they can get through this," neighbor Sheryl Roth said.

The woman hurt in the blaze was transported to Stratford Hospital.

A third person overcome with grief was also said to be taken to a hospital.

Fox 29 News was not reporting the name of the family early Wednesday afternoon at the request of Stratford police, who were still trying to notify other family members.

The cause of the fire, which was placed under control by 7 a.m., remained under investigation.