More than $25K raised for family of mother, son killed in N.J. house fire – NJ.com
A GoFundMe campaign is collecting donations for the family of a mother and son killed during a weekend house fire in Nutley.
Amanda Russo, 29, and her 7-year-old son were unable to make it out of the blaze, which broke out Saturday in the home they shared with Russo’s parents on the 300 block of Park Avenue.
The deaths came as a shock to the quiet, suburban neighborhood’s residents, who remembered seeing the boy playing outside or waiting at the bus stop with his grandmother.
Amanda Russo, 29, and her 7-year-old son died when a fire broke out in their home on the 300 block of Park Avenue.
Family friend Danielle Furman created the GoFundMe campaign this week to help Russo’s parents get back on their feet.
The account has raised nearly $27,000 as of Wednesday morning.
“Growing up with the family they were always a close-knit family, always there for each other. Everywhere they went, they were always together,” Furman wrote on the page. “As a community let’s try to be there for them the best we can, as they would be for each other.”
Joe Caprio, a Nutley resident who was one of the first to get to the scene, has also been working with GoFundMe and created a separate account for the family.
Caprio was driving on Park Avenue with his family when he saw the fire at the Russo home.
“I immediately called 911, got out of my car and started banging on all the windows and doors around the house to see if anyone was home,” he said in a post on his Facebook page.
Caprio helped Russo’s father get out, but couldn’t get to Russo and her son on the second floor because it was engulfed in flames, he said in the post.
Neighbor Joe Pospisil told NJ Advance Media he watched from his home next door as smoke poured from under the Russo home’s eaves, and flames shot out of the second story.
Russo and her son were pronounced dead at at Clara Maass Medical Center after being pulled from the burning building, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. Authorities withheld the child’s name because he is a minor.
Authorities have not released a cause or origin of the fire.
Jenna Wise may be reached at jwise@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JennaRWise. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.
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