Three Children among Five Dead in Newark Blaze

Fire in a vacant building had spread to an adjoining building.
Firefighters continue to work at a scene where the remains of at least three buildings lay in ruin after a fast moving fire, starting in an abandoned building, spread to an adjacent building killing four people in Newark, N.J. Friday July 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Published Friday, July 20, 2012

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Authorities say five people, including three young children, have been killed in an apartment house fire in New Jersey's largest city that started in a vacant building next door.

Newark fire officials say those killed lived in two third-floor apartments.

The fire started just before 2 a.m. Friday and spread quickly, damaging four other buildings and displacing about 15 people.

The cause remains under investigation.

Newark Fire Capt. John Brown says a 3-year-old girl and her 4-year-old brother died in a back apartment. He says their parents escaped the blaze with two other children, and were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.

Fire officials say another young female child, a teenage boy and an adult died in the other apartment.

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Three Children among Five Dead in Newark Blaze

Fire in a vacant building had spread to an adjoining building.
Firefighters continue to work at a scene where the remains of at least three buildings lay in ruin after a fast moving fire, starting in an abandoned building, spread to an adjacent building killing four people in Newark, N.J. Friday July 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)


Firefighters continue to work at a scene where the remains of at least three buildings lay in ruin after a fast moving fire, in Newark, N.J. Friday July 20, 2012. Newark Fire Capt. John Brown says the 3-alarm blaze broke out in a vacant building on Brookdale Avenue around 1:41 a.m. Friday. Brown says initially there was a problem with water pressure and the flames quickly spread to three other buildings. Four people were killed. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)


A distraught woman cries out as she sits on the sidewalk across the street from the scene of a fatal fire that killed four people in Newark, N.J. Friday July 20, 2012. The fast moving fire that started in an abandoned building, spread to an adjacent building where the fatalities occurred. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)