MIDDLETOWN, N.J. — Pacing frantically on the lawn in front of his burning home, a New Jersey man screamed for help as a fire killed his wife, daughter and two other people early Tuesday.


The man, whose identity has not been confirmed by authorities pending notification of relatives, was sobbing and calling out for help.

"My wife! My daughter!" he cried, according to neighbors. "Somebody help us!"

The man was wearing a bathrobe, wailing in agony as it became clear rescuers would be unable to enter the raging inferno.

"He was distraught, standing there with his hands on his face," said neighbor Kristen Dressler, who lives across the street. "It was really sad. There was nothing anyone could do."

The 3 a.m. fire killed four adults, First Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said. Their names have not been released pending notification of relatives.

The cause of the six-alarm fire at 135 Statesir Place had not been determined as of midday. Investigators were paying close attention to an area in the front of the home where a gas main had been located.

They shoveled scoops of charred debris from what had been a picture window in the front of the house, above where the gas line connected to the two-story wood-frame dwelling, whose robin's egg-blue siding had all but melted away in the blaze.

Ted Magee and his wife, who also live across the street, heard the screams of the father of family, who was the only one to escape.

"He was yelling, 'Oh my God, help me!' " Magee said. "The whole front of the house was in flames, just engulfed. Smoke was pouring out. He was saying, 'My wife, my daughter and my sister-in-law are in there!' Everything was crackling and snapping. He was just bawling; he didn't know what to do."

Dressler also said she heard popping and cracking sounds as flames swept through the house.

"It was just raging," she said. "It was coming out all the windows. There was just nothing we could do."

The father was taken to a hospital but was not believed to have been seriously injured. There were no initial reports of firefighter injuries from the blaze.

Carlos Olivero, who lives down the block, said he knew the family years ago when their children attended school together.

"They were very nice people, a very good family," he said. "This is so sad."

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