5 killed, 4 injured in northern NJ house fire

February 23, 2012 at 3:30p.m.

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, N.J. (AP) — A fast-burning fire destroyed half of a duplex home early today, killing five members of a family and injuring four others, authorities said. Relatives said four of the dead were children.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Neighbor Isabel Scavino said her husband woke up about 3:15 a.m. to the sound of a screaming child. She told The Associated Press they heard what sounded like either gunshots or firecrackers.

Scavino said she saw a woman running from the home with a small child in her arms, and other children also fleeing.

“The fire just spread out, it was just crazy. It looked like it started on the first floor and then just spread up to the roof in about a minute,” she said.

Relatives at the scene told radio station WINS-AM that four young children and their grandmother were killed in the fire, and that three other victims were also children.