Man killed, mother badly hurt in Newark fire

Get the details at the INCIDENT REPORT

A fire ripped through a Newark home early yesterday morning, killing a 28-year-old man and severely injuring his mother.

Family members said Lena Gaskin, 52, and her son, Lorenzo Gaskin, both school bus drivers, were trapped when a fire quickly spread through their Norman Road home, an attached duplex on a quiet, residential road.

Though he declined to identify the victims, fire chief Michael Lalor said the female victim was badly burned but managed to survive by jumping from the window of a second-floor bedroom. Firefighters found her in the back yard. The man did not make it out of the house and was found by firefighters in the doorway of the bedroom, Lalor said.

Lena Gaskin's sister, Susan Newton, said Lorenzo Gaskin, known by his nickname, Raheem, was seriously injured in a recent car accident and was recovering from his injuries. He also suffered from asthma, she said.

"He was too weak to get out of the house," said Newton, 46, of Montclair, in a phone interview.

Lorenzo Gaskin was taken to University Hospital in Newark, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival, Lalor said. Lena Gaskin was taken to Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, where she was listed in critical condition in the hospital's burn unit, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The family dog, Pop-Pop, also died in the fire, Newton said.

Neighbor Thomas Ladner, 38, who lives one house down from Gaskin, was watching television around 1 a.m. when he heard a window burst.

"I came running outside and saw flames and started banging on the door," Ladner said. Other neighbors came out and started throwing rocks at the windows.

Lamarr Johnson, 28, who lives in the duplex attached to Gaskin's home, was awakened by the ruckus.

"They were yelling and honking the horn," said Johnson, a 28-year-old daycare worker. When Johnson went outside, he saw Gaskin's door was on fire and rushed back inside to get his fiancee and 3-year-old son out of the house.

"It just went up," Johnson said of the fire that consumed Gaskin's house. "The two front windows were completely on fire."

"The flames were so big," Ladner said, adding he could hear the dog wailing inside. "I thought, should I run in? But by that time, there were just too many flames."

Ladner said he saw two people brought out on gurneys. "They were burnt bad," he said.

The fire, which started on the first floor, does not appear to be suspicious, Lalor said.

NJ.com