Firefighters injured trying to rescue victims of deadly fire

UPDATE: Firefighters injured trying to rescue victims of deadly fire
By Michelle Sahn • December 12, 2007

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BELMAR — Local, county and state investigators this morning continued to search for the
cause of the house fire that claimed the lives of a 7-year-old boy and a woman Tuesday evening.


Both victims lived at the 1403 C Street house where the fire broke out around 7:30
p.m., but investigators this morning were also trying to determine the relationship
between the victims and how many other people lived at that home between 14 and 15th avenues.

John C. Rizzitello, the Belmar fire marshal, said the woman and child were found by firefighters on the second-floor of the home, in the vicinity of the bathroom.

"The (firefighters) who actually got to the victims did a tremendous job,''
Rizzitello said. "They had to get themselves up a staircase that was engulfed in flames and down a hallway that was engulfed in flames. The conditions were pretty serious.''

Those firefighters made their way through the burning house carrying between 80 and 100 pounds of gear, he said.

Firefighters from Belmar, West Belmar (Wall), Spring Lake, Bradley Beach and Avon responded to the blaze, which was all but extinguished by 9 p.m.

Three firefighters - two from Belmar and one from Bradley Beach - were injured,
authorities said: one with burns to his face, another with eye injuries and a third with smoke inhalation.

The three firefighters who were injured were among those who tried to rescue the
victims. They were treated and released at the hospital.

Rizzitello said investigators were able to get inside the house Tuesday night, after
about 50 firefighters from the borough and surrounding communities extinguished the blaze. The investigators returned this morning to continue their search for the cause of the fire, which they believe began on the second-floor, he said.

Paul Shappirio, the superintendent of schools in Belmar, said a half dozen
counselors, along with the child study team director, were working at Belmar Elementary School today. The little boy who died was a first-grader at the school and counselors were placed in each of the three first grade classrooms.

He said school officials plan to send a letter home to parents today, letting them
know that the school will be open for anyone who needs counseling.

Neighbors described an intense blaze that engulfed the second floor of the house.

Dovid Fink 17, who lives across C street from the fire scene, said he was reading
last night when he suddenly heard screaming.

Then he heard someone yell there was a fire.

"Flames were pouring out the second story window, and people were coming out'' of the house, Fink said.

His friend dialed 911 and a few minutes later police arrived, followed by fire
trucks, Fink said.

"It was basically only the second story, but there were a lot of flames,.'' Fink
said.

Another neighbor on 15 Avenue, Gary Olivieri, said when he walked down the block last night, the second story of the house was engulfed in flames.

"It's a shame, it really is,'' Olivieri said.