She died with one of her babies in her arms.
A Long Island mom fought desperately to rescue her three young children from a late-Friday-night fire but apparently collapsed from smoke inhalation before she could save either herself or them, police said.
Jennifer McCusker, 41, was holding one of her 2-year-old twins as she tried to gather up the other child but was unable to even make it out of the babies’ room as the Shirley home became engulfed in fire.
“I heard Jenny had one baby out of the crib and one in her arms,” friend and former roommate Brittney Roell, 23, told The Post. “She was a hardworking mom. She was really family-oriented.”
McCusker, her 7-year-old son, Aidan Tarbell, and toddler twins, Ava Jane and Brendan Mistretta, were pronounced dead at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital. The cause of the blaze, which is believed to have begun in the front of the home, is under investigation, police said.
The fire spread in the blink of an eye.
“I ran and could get as close as the mailbox, [then] everything blew up,” said Natalya Flamme. “It was so fast. There were just flames. The windows started exploding. It was too much too quick.”
Another neighbor said flames engulfed the house in the time it took her to pour a bowl of cereal.
“I heard a pop. I looked outside and . . . in no time, it just took over. Within a couple of minutes, the roof was on fire. The flames were turning purple. This all happened in 20 minutes, and an hour later they were gone,” said Ruthann Krafve.
Aidan’s dad, Joe Tarbell, lived in the basement of the house but was at work when the flames broke out, said Roell, who added, “This is so hard. I’m in shock.”
Tarbell asked for prayers for Jennifer’s relatives and wrote on Facebook: “Heaven got 4 beautiful angels . . . Jennifer Brendan Eva and my Beautiful Son Aidan I miss you my son my life will never be the same without you.”
The devastated father of the twins said McCusker and her children were “the best family I could hope for.”
“Go home and hug your kids tonight — you never know when they can be taken from you,” said Peter Mistretta.