Relatives claimed firefighters took too long to respond to the early-morning fire on High Street Watch video
ORANGE -- Family members of the three people killed in an Orange house fire on Monday are criticizing township firefighters for taking too long to respond to the blaze and then not rushing into the residence to save their relatives.
But Orange Fire Director Kenneth Douglas said firefighters arrived at the scene within three minutes and could not immediately enter the house, because the building was fully engulfed in flames.
The early-morning blaze took the lives of three members of a family that was living in the High Street residence, according to the Essex County Prosecutor's Office. The fire remains under investigation, but it does not appear to be suspicious, authorities said.
Authorities have not released the names and ages of the victims, but relatives have said two young boys and a man died in the fire.
The fire also spread to the two adjoining homes on each side of the house, but no one was injured in those homes, authorities said. The American Red Cross said it assisted ten people in four families who were displaced by the fire.
Standing across the street on Monday morning from the charred remains of the residence, family members were sharply critical of what they said was a delayed response by the township fire department to the incident.
"I'm upset," said James M. Liles Jr., one of the relatives. "Why would these police officers or fire department take so long to get here?"
Another relative, Chante May, also claimed firefighters took a long time to arrive at the scene.
"It took a long time for them to get here and when they got here, nobody tried to go in and save them," said May, who said she ran to the scene from her nearby home after her sister called her about the fire.
Iminah May, who also is a member of the family, criticized firefighters for not going inside the house to save her relatives, because "if you take an oath to protect and serve, you're supposed to protect and serve."
But in a phone interview on Tuesday, Douglas said the response time wasn't long, saying firefighters arrived at the scene within three minutes of receiving the initial call about the fire. A response time of about two to three minutes is the average in the township, Douglas said.
When firefighters showed up, they could not immediately enter the house, because of the heavy volume of fire throughout the residence, according to Douglas.
"You have to put the body of fire down. Nobody's going in the building till that heavy fire is down," Douglas said. "That volume of fire....had to be knocked down before you can make an attempt to go inside."
Douglas said the overall performance of the firefighters was "excellent" and "they did everything possibly they could do" to extinguish the blaze and protect lives and property.
"They fought this fire with guts," Douglas said.
The firefighters are upset about the three lives lost in the blaze, Douglas said. The township is a close-knit community and some of the firefighters knew the family that lived in the house, he said.
"They took it pretty hard when they knew that there was fatalities in the building," Douglas said.
Bill Wichert may be reached at bwichert@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillWichertNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.