Middletown fire that killed four might have been caused by ‘improper disposal’ of cigarettes or matches
Published: Tuesday, April 19, 2011, 12:05 PM Updated: Tuesday, April 19, 2011, 2:54 PM
By Star-Ledger Staff The Star-LedgerFollow Share 7 1 Share close Google Buzz Digg Stumble Upon Fark Share Email Print Enlarge Noah K. Murray/ The Star-Ledger Middletown firefighters work the scene of a fatal Fire that took the lives of four people at 135 Statesir Place. (Noah K. Murray/The Star-Ledger) Middletown fatal fire gallery (5 photos)
MIDDLETOWN — A six-alarm Blaze that killed four people in a Middletown home early this morning may have been caused by the “improper disposal” of cigarettes or matches, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
The fire erupted inside of a two-story home on Statesir Place around 3 a.m., according to Monmouth County’s First Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni, claiming the lives of four of the five residents inside.
Stephen Banovich, 63, managed to escape the fire moments before it engulfed the structure, killing his wife, daughter and two others, Gramiccioni said.
The victims have been identified as Sheridan Banovich, 63, Deidre Banovich, 23, Anthony Cadalzo, 25, and Denise DuSold, 60, according to Gramiccioni.
Cadalzo was apparently Diedre’s boyfriend, Gramiccioni said, and DuSold was Sheridan’s “sister or sister-in-law,” he said.
While authorities are still working to determine an exact cause, Gramiccioni said that his office is “unable to rule out the improper disposal of a cigarette or lighting materials,” as a catalyst for the blaze. The fire apparently started inside of a metal waste paper basket in a spare bedroom on the home’s first floor, before rapidly spreading through the building.
The fire was reported via a 9-1-1 call to Middletown police at 3:06 a.m., according to Gramiccioni, and emergency crews spent the next hour battling the raging blaze, eventually darkening the flames around 4 a.m.
• Four adults die in Middletown house fire
Ted and Carol Magee, who live across the street and down a few houses, said they were awakened by screams around 3 a.m.
“I opened the bedroom window and saw the whole front of the house on fire,” Carol Magee said.
Ted Magee said he watched in horror as the lone survivor, Stephen Banovich, paced back and forth in front of the smoldering structure, desperately searching for a way inside.
“There was smoke. He couldn’t get in,” said Magee, a longtime neighbor who lives across the street.
Kristen Dressler, 32, who lives across the street, said she and several other neighbors were awoken by the blaze as Banovich stood in the street, watching the fire rip through his home around 3:30 a.m.
“There was just nothing we could do,” she said.
Magee, who said he’d done some work on the house, was bringing clothing to the surviving family member.
“Seeing them brought out of the house in body bags was really rough,” he said. “They’re good people.”
Added his wife: “This is so devastating.”
Six fire companies and three first aid companies battled the blaze early this morning, Gramiccioni said. The Prosecutor’s Office and Middletown Police are investigating the blaze.
