A New Jersey teen was killed in a massive blaze that injured three others and displaced more than 20 people in Trenton late Friday night.
The fire broke out at a home on the 1200 block of North Olden Avenue around 10:30 p.m. and quickly spread to seven row homes in the area, according to a statement from Trenton City Hall.
A Trenton Central High School student was killed in the fire, Mayor Reed Gusciora told Philadelphia’s NBC10.
The teen, identified by family members as 18-year-old Joseph Kokulo, was a member of the school’s Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program and had been preparing to participate in Saturday’s homecoming parade, Gusciora said.
“His uniform was hanging up in his room,” the mayor told New Jersey 101.5.
Three other people were taken to a nearby hospital. Two of them were in stable condition, while the other remained in critical condition, officials said Saturday.
A firefighter was among those hospitalized, the local ABC affiliate WPVI reported.
The three-alarm fire displaced 22 people, according to the mayor. “Seven families — all of their possessions seem to have been destroyed,” he said.
One of the displaced residents, Arnoldo Esteban, told NBC 10 that he had lived there for 13 years.
“Now we don’t have anything,” he said. “We hope everything is OK.”
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
