Elderly couple killed in retirement community fire

Authorities say an elderly New Jersey couple was killed when a fast-moving fire roared through their home in a retirement community in Ocean County. 

Manchester Township police say the fire was reported around 8:30 p.m. Friday. Arriving police officers discovered a fully engulfed structure and flames through the roof. 

Neighbors told police that 84-year-old Warren Hollander and his 82-year-old wife, June, were still in the home. But the arriving officers couldn’t enter the house due to the intense heat and thick smoke.

The couple’s bodies were found in their bedroom after the fire was extinguished.

Two firefighters were treated for minor injuries.

Authorities say the blaze damaged some nearby homes in the Renaissance at Manchester community. No other residents were injured in the fire, but many were evacuated as a precaution.

Firefighters from the Manchester Fire Department, Ridgeway Fire Department, Whiting Fire Department, Lakehurst Fire Department, Pleasant Plains Fire Department, and Toms River Fire Department companies 1 and 2 responded. 

The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, Ocean County Fire Marshal’s Office, Ocean County Sheriff’s Department, and the Manchester Township Police Department. 

—————————————————————-

The Associated Press contributed to this report.