Teen girl and baby killed in Lacey, NJ housefire caused by smoking

🔥 Four members of a family were killed in the fire

🔥 A fifth family member was rescued by firefighters and hospitalized

🔥 It is the fourth housefire in Ocean County caused by smoking materials.

LACEY — Improperly disposed of smoking material is the likely cause of a housefire that killed four members of a family Tuesday afternoon.

Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said residents Jennifer Wright, 39, Alaina Wright, 34, a 14-year-old girl and a four-month-old infant died in the fire on Buttonwood Drive in the Lanoka Harbor section.

Firefighters attempted to rescue them from the two-story home but had to evacuate when the roof collapsed.

A fifth resident, Brenda Wright, 67, was evacuated through the back of the house. She was taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River. She was in stable condition Wednesday morning, according to Billhimer.

Brenda is Jennifer and Alaina's mother and the 14-year-old's grandmother. The infant is Alaina's son. The teen's mother was not at the house at the time of the fire.

Fourth housefire caused by smoking materials

Fire investigators said the fire started on the porch on the west side of the house.

Billhimer said the cause of the fire has been ruled accidental.

It is the fourth housefire in Ocean County to be caused by improperly disposed of smoking materials.

A man died after a porch fire on July 24 spread through a two-story home on Laketree Court in Manchester.

Smoking material left on a third-floor balcony at the Fairways at Bey Lea Apartment Complex in Toms River on July 15 was determined by the prosecutor's office to be the cause of a fire that displaced over 30 residents.

A fire at a home on Tortola Street in Berkley on May 10 was started by smoking on a recliner. A 59-year-old man was found on the floor inside the home and later died at Community Medical Center in Toms River.

NOTE: The story has been updated to show that the infant who died as a result of the fire is a male. The prosecutor's office previously said the child was female.

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