file photo by Boyd Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, according to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Sharon Maes, 66, was found dead in the living room of her North Pleasant Avenue home,in Ridgewood. The fire started in the kitchen at around 1 a.m., but the cause remains under investigation. The prosecutor’s office stated fire does not appear to be suspicious.
Members of the Ridgewood Fire Department located the fire in the kitchen area, and found Maes unresponsive in the living room as they battled the fire. Maes was pronounced dead at the scene.
An investigation into the cause of the fire is being conducted by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office under the direction of Chief Robert Anzilotti, the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office under the direction of Sheriff Anthony Cureton, and the Ridgewood Police Department under the direction of Chief Jacqueline Luthcke.
Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella announces the following information:
The Ridgewood Police Department and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office are investigating the cause of a fatal fire in Ridgewood early Monday, April 26, 2021. At approximately 12:55 a.m. on April 26, 2021, the Ridgewood Police Department received a report of a house fire at 255 North Pleasant Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ. Members of the Ridgewood Fire Department located a fire in the area of the kitchen. During fire suppression operations, firefighters located the homeowner, 66-year-old Sharon Maes, unresponsive in the living room of the residence. Ms. Maes succumbed to her injuries from the fire and was pronounced deceased at the scene.
An investigation into the cause of the fire is being conducted by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office under the direction of Chief Robert Anzilotti, the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office under the direction of Sheriff Anthony Cureton, and the Ridgewood Police Department under the direction of Chief Jacqueline Luthcke. At this time, the cause of the fire does not appear to be suspicious.
Keep your smoke alarms up-to-date. Hard-wired is better than battery.
Thank you for this post. Will do!
… and make sure your smoke detector also detects carbon monoxide. That stuff is worse than smoke. It’s deadly.
my smoke alarms are hard wired but also have 9v battery back ups
This is unspeakably sad. While we were all sleeping, this poor woman was dying. Oh. My. God.
A neighbor saw smoke and called FD?
Very say, god bless her .
IF You don’t get out yourself, they’re not gonna save you… update your smoke alarms and keep an extinguisher… what are we paying these guys for anyway?? They even try to pull her out of the house?
to the dumb ass who said ‘why are we paying these guys…”
as a resident since 1969, a paid FD with an almost INSTANT response is worth any dollar of my tax bill.
Since you have your head up your ass, the fire dept cant respond until they are called. If they are called after a fire has become fully involved what can you expect. Buy an alarm with a smoke detector that would alert the monitoring center to send help ASAP if you’re incapacated.
The RPD and the RFD are top notch. Please no disparaging comments about these men and women who do great work for us!