The bodies of both children missing after a massive fire ripped through a full block of a New Jersey neighborhood earlier this week have been recovered.
The victims were sisters and identified by a family member only as 9-year-old Sammy and 13-year-old Valery, ABC 6 News reported. Their remains were found Thursday amidst the rubble and destruction left behind by a blaze in Millville Wednesday night.
The fire broke out just after 11 p.m., along the 300 block of South 4th Street, Fire Chief John Wettstein said. When firefighters arrived on the scene, two homes were already engulfed in flames, with attempts to battle them back slowed by a broken fire hydrant. Wettstein noted first responders were forced to run some 800 feet of hose to another, functioning fire hydrant before efforts to put out the fire could even begin.
The blaze burned for hours before it was eventually contained, and teams worked through Thursday morning, putting out hotspots and scouring the debris. In total, six homes were left damaged — including two burnt all the way down to their foundations — and 23 people have been displaced.
Authorities provided few other details about the girls killed in the fire. Their father was also injured and was taken to a hospital for treatment, but he is expected to recover, police said.
In a statement on Thursday, Sen. Michael Testa called the blaze “an unimaginable tragedy” and offered his condolences to those impacted.
“My heart is broken for the family who lost two young daughters in this devastating fire, and my prayers are with them and everyone affected — this is a loss that shakes our entire community to the core,” he added.
An investigation into the fire is ongoing. While no cause has been officially confirmed, a gas line reportedly ruptured in the area amidst the fire, fueling the flames and their spread.
“Until the South Jersey gas [workers] arrived and [were] able to turn the gas off to all the houses,” Wettstein said, “we did have a gas-fed fire that made it a little bit more difficult.”
With News Wire Services
https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/04/11/sisters-recovered-fire-millville-nj/