Children missing after fire rages through several NJ houses

Two children were missing after intense fire tore through several South Jersey houses overnight.

The fire broke out around 11 p.m. on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, along 4th Street by Railroad Avenue, Millville Fire Chief John Wettstein said.

The fire quickly spread.

When firefighters arrived they found flames coming from two of the houses, Wettstein said. They began to battle the flames, but had to extend a hose hundreds of feet further away due to a broken hydrant nearby.

Natural gas lines helped feed the flames until the gas company arrived to cut off the gas to the houses, Wettstein said.

Two children were unaccounted for as firefighters searched the smoldering rubble Thursday morning.

One person was transported to the hospital with undisclosed injuries, Wettstein said.

No firefighters suffered any injuries.

The fire left six homes damaged, two of the homes destroyed, Wettstein said. Nearly two dozen residents were displaced and would be helped by the American Red Cross.

The fire struck as some residents were sleeping.

“I can hear someone yelling ‘get out, get out,’ but I’m asleep, so I’m thinking it’s a dream,” resident Iteaia Broughton said while still in shock after the fire. “But then my boyfriend comes in and he wakes me up, he’s likes, ‘you guys gotta get out, fire.’ So we wake up the kids. Thank God we made it out. If it wasn’t for him I don’t know if I would have survived it.”

Nearly seven hours after the fire began, smoke continued to rise, as shown in Instagram video from Matt DeLucia. A parked car appeared to have burned out.

The heat of the fire was so intense that it visibly melted part of a Millville firetruck.

“The truck’s probably going to be out of service for a while until it’s repaired,” Wettstein said.