A teen in town for a Father’s Day event honoring his dead dad was among six people killed in a Newark house fire early Sunday.
Stephan Sydney, 15, and his mother, Norene Johnson, had traveled to New Jersey from Georgia for a ceremony honoring his father, who died in an accident two years ago.
The mother and son were killed along with several relatives when a three-alarm fire broke out in the house they were staying in on South 15th Street near Madison Avenue shortly before 4 a.m., officials said.
Stephan’s paternal grandmother, Iris Sydney, 77, wept as she said she was supposed to meet Stephan in the morning for a church service, but he didn’t show.
“Instead, the sheriff showed up and told me that Stephan was in the house with his mother,” said the grandmother, who lives in Irvington.
“Instead of Stephan spending Father’s Day with me, Stephan was gone. I can’t believe this… I buried my son, and now I will bury my grandchild. It’s a sad day for the Sydney family.”
Also killed in the fire were Stephan’s maternal grandmother, her husband, her daughter and another grandson.
Authorities did not release their identities, pending notification of next of kin.
An arson task force was on the scene combing through the charred debris for clues of how the fire started. They said it did not appear suspicious.
Neighbors said they awoke to the sound of popping noises and the smell of smoke as the blaze moved quickly through the house and then spread to an adjoining home.
“The fire started on the front porch of the house, and it traveled up the rails to the roof, and then the whole house caught fire,” said neighbor Reward James Akpiri, 48.
“It’s devastating. It takes away from Father’s Day joy. The whole neighborhood feels bad. It’s tragic,” Akpiri said.
Witnesses said firefighters broke down the front door but were battled back by the flames and intense heat.
“I heard popping, and I thought it was gunshots,” said neighbor Yolanda Holmes, 45. “It was the transformers popping and electricity. When I came out, both houses were engulfed in flames.
“[One] house had fire on the top floor, and next door, the whole house was on fire,” she said. “I heard firemen breaking doors and windows. But after a while all they could do was stand back. It was already gone.”
Another neighbor said, “There was no way anyone could have survived that fire.
“It went from 0 to 100 in seconds. The flames were so hot that you couldn’t even pass by the house on the other side of the street.”
Neighbors described the grandmother who perished as a religious woman who liked flea markets, flowers and doting on her grandchildren.