A New Jersey family’s Thanksgiving turned tragic when two sisters lost their lives rescuing their disabled father from a fierce house fire, authorities said.
Frantzia Fleury, 49, and Pojanee Fleury, 42, were overcome by flames while helping their father escape their home on Mosswood Avenue near Tremont Avenue in the City of Orange, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office reported.
Their father survived without injury, along with six others who were inside the house at the time. The fire began around 5 p.m., and the sisters were pronounced dead at the scene at 6:45 p.m.
Pojanee Fleury, described on her personal website as a publisher, author, and inventor, wrote the memoir Who’s Going to Invent That, You?, detailing her journey and challenges as an inventor. The African Immigrants’ Commission of New York and Connecticut paid tribute to her on Facebook, calling her “a great, selfless community leader and dedicated servant” who “will be missed dearly.”
Frantzia Fleury worked as a radiologic technologist at Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville, New Jersey. Nearly nine years ago, she posted a touching photo on Facebook of herself with her father, captioned #DaddysGirl.
Neighbors described the fire as devastating. “I just came here to look, and then I see the whole fire,” one resident told WPIX. “That’s heartbreaking, and on Thanksgiving, that’s hard. That’s really hard.”
Another neighbor recalled the family’s warmth and care. “I just know that they kept their yard really nice, and whenever I would go for a walk or run, they were super friendly,” Matthew Mehr told WABC.
Authorities said the cause of the blaze remains under investigation.