Elementary school girl killed in NJ house fire; neighborhood mourns

BAYONNE, N.J. (PIX11) — A neighborhood is mourning the loss of a 6-year-old girl after a fire broke out in her family’s apartment in Bayonne late Sunday night.

She’s been identified as Saniya Felton.

Mary Nassim, the owner of Sweet Smiles Daycare, where the girl used to attend, said “She was so sweet and kind.”

Through tears, Nassim said that Saniya, who’d advanced from her daycare to elementary school two years ago, “would come by at least once a month,” and hug and thank her former teachers.

The girl lived on the second floor of a two-story, two-apartment building behind 438 Avenue C. That’s where flames broke out around 11:40 p.m. on Sunday, according to the Hudson County Prosecutor, which also identified the girl.

Bayonne firefighters responded, with some help provided by fire departments from neighboring towns.

Firefighters found the girl unresponsive and rushed her to Bayonne Medical Center. She was pronounced dead there, shortly after 1:00 a.m. on Monday, prosecutors said.

Sarah Gonzalez, who lives a couple of blocks away, said that she smelled smoke, saw the flames from her window, “And I came running” to the scene.

She said many neighbors came out to see if they could offer any help. Firefighters were already on the scene, she said, having pulled three people out of the upstairs apartment, including the girl, her mother, and the girl’s older brother.

There’s also a family that lives on the lower floor of the two-story building. They managed to escape with their lives, and nothing else. PIX11 News made contact with a woman who lives on the lower floor. She said that she did not want to be interviewed.

The building is a total loss. Fire investigators were in and out of the structure on Monday morning, trying to assess the cause of the fire. It’s still under investigation.

Nassim, a friend of the family of the girl who died, said that children from her daycare, and other children from the neighborhood will make a memorial to the girl, in front of the fence in front of the home where she died.

She said that the girl’s mother is devastated.

Investigators said on Monday afternoon that foul play is not suspected in the fire.

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