Story highlights
House fire in Newark destroys home, kills 6
Neighbors tell CNN affiliate a grandmother, her daughter and grandchildren lived there
Six people died Sunday when a fire razed a home on the south side of Newark, New Jersey, an Essex County official told CNN.
The Essex County prosecutor’s office’s Chief of Detectives Anthony Ambrose said it was still unclear what caused the fire, which started around 4 a.m.
The county’s arson task force is investigating the blaze, Ambrose said.
Pictures of the home on Google Earth showed a picturesque home with a colorful garden in full bloom in the front yard – a startling contrast from the charred aftermath photos taken by CNN affiliate WPIX.
Neighbors told CNN affiliate WABC that a woman lived at the home with her daughter and two young grandchildren, all of whom had moved to Newark from the island of St. Vincent several years ago.
Police have not yet named the victims of the fire, Ambrose said.
CNN’s Sho Wills reported on this story from New York and Mark Morgenstein wrote in Atlanta.