4-alarm house fire in Orange, New Jersey leaves 2 children dead

ORANGE (WABC) -- On Saturday, a layer of white snow covered the charred remains of a home in Orange, New Jersey - the spot of a horrific fire that claimed the life of two young children on Friday night.

"I was actually in the back playing pool when a friend of mine said 'you think Tanika's house is on fire?'" said family friend Dion Jones.

When Jones looked, he saw a wall of flames in the three story home on Central Place.

"The whole block was lit up," he adds.

Officials say seven people lived inside of the home - most of them children. Two children escaped the flames, witnesses say, by jumping out of the third floor window.

"The six-year-old, she pushed her little brother out and they caught him - he jumped out and they caught him," adds Jones.

Orange Township Mayor Dwayne Warren says there were people surround the house trying to get people out.

"When the kids jumped, some of the neighbors received them outside the house," says Warren.

Sadly, two children were not able to escape. 6-year-old Jayda McEachin, who neighbors say tried to save her siblings, and 1-year-old Zion Tony, were both found on the third floor.

"To know that someone died, that's horrible - it's the worst thing ever," said neighbor Tara Williams.

At this point, investigators don't know how the fire started, and haven't determined exactly where in the house it began. Ernest Williams with the Family Assistance Resource Center of New Jersey has been in contact with the family, and says the children's mother and her family are completely distraught.

"She's not doing very well - naturally everyone else is very respondent because they lost everything," he says.

The Family Assistance Resource Center is helping the family with the funeral expenses for the children who died. Two others in the house were taken to the hospital.

The mayor tells Eyewitness News that the house was once abandoned, and fixed up for the family to live in, but will now be demolished.