The body of one child has been recovered while another remained unaccounted for on Thursday after a massive fire burned across a South New Jersey neighborhood, ripping through six homes and leaving nearly two dozen people displaced.
The blaze broke out in Millville late Wednesday night, according to Millville Fire Chief John Wettstein.
When firefighters arrived on the scene around 11 p.m., two homes were already engulfed in flames, triggering a race to respond, the chief said. However, their efforts were hampered by a busted fire hydrant, forcing crews to run a hose to another one about 800 feet away.
Wettstein said the fire burned for several hours before it was eventually contained. Firefighters continued to search the rubble and spray hot spots into Thursday morning.
Video from the scene, obtained by ABC News 6, shows a pair of duplexes completely burnt down to their foundations and another two houses left with severe damage.
“Everything’s burned to the ground,” resident Iteaia Broughton told the station. “We have nothing. My daughter has no shoes on her feet. My son has no coat. We have nothing.”
In the wake of the fire, first responders said they were searching for two missing children. By Thursday afternoon, ABC News 6 reported the body of one child had been found but that crews were still searching for the second, describing it as a recovery mission.
The names and ages of the children have not been released.
Authorities have yet to confirm a cause for the fire, but local reports suggested it was sparked by a ruptured gas line. An investigation into the matter is ongoing.
With News Wire Services
