New Jersey

95-Year-Old Husband and Wife Die, Health Aide Fighting for Life After New Jersey House Fire

A 95-year-old man and his wife, also 95, died and their caretaker was hospitalized in critical condition after the three were pulled from a smoky house fire in New Jersey Thursday, officials said.

Erwin and Mary Gloss were pronounced dead at Overlook Hospital hours after they were taken there with grave injuries. The name of their live-in home health care aide, who is 48, was not immediately released.

Authorities first got a 911 call about the smell of smoke in the area of the Berkeley Heights home shortly before 1 a.m. Another call game in three minutes later. Police got to the scene on Orion Road first and saw heavy smoke billowing from inside the home; a neighbor told them the elderly man and woman were still inside, officials said.

Firefighters got in through the front door and found the elderly woman and the health aide on the first floor; the elderly man was found on the second floor, authorities said. All three were given CPR at the scene.

The fire was extinguished in less than an hour. Two firefighters were hospitalized for evaluation -- one with a cut to the hand and another with smoke inhalation.

The fire does not seem to be suspicious, but investigators are still trying to determine what may have sparked the blaze. 

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