By Sunayana Prabhu
HAZLET – More than 2,000 people gathered at Veteran’s Park Tuesday for a candlelight vigil to honor a mother and daughter who perished in a house fire last week.
Early Friday morning Jan. 13 a fire erupted in a two-story home at 10 Brookside Ave., claiming the lives of 40-year-old Jacqueline Montanaro and her 6-year-old daughter Madelyn. Husband William and 8-year-old daughter Elena escaped.
According to the Hazlet Township Police Department, the cause of the fire has not been established yet and remains under investigation with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s office.
“I am heartbroken. I have lost the love of my life – my beautiful wife, Jackie – and my sweet, loving, spunky little girl, Madelyn,” William said in a press statement to the community on Twitter. “Jackie was a hero,” he wrote. “When I rushed back into the house for Madelyn, I became enveloped in a massive amount of thick, hot black smoke. Without hesitation, Jackie then charged in with a mother’s love and the courage of a police officer fueling her attempt to save our daughter.”
Jacqueline served as a supervising officer at U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Her co-worker Robert Cacioli organized a fundraising campaign on GoFundMe.com that has to date raised more than $300,000 to support William and daughter Elena, who have not only lost their loved ones but also their home and belongings. “We cannot express in words how tragic the loss of this amazing Supervisor, Colleague, Friend, Mom and Hero is to our community,” Cacioli wrote in the details on the GoFundMe page.
Hazlet Mayor Michael Sachs, the township committee and police chaplain Barry Mulligan, along with countless neighbors, co-workers and friends, mourned the tragic loss of the Montanaro family members.
“As the Hazlet community tries to wrap ours heads around such a tragic event, please keep the Montanaro family in your thoughts and help support them if you can,” read a post on the Hazlet Township Police Department’s Facebook page about the vigil.
William and Elena are currently staying with family members in Holmdel. While they process their grief “the community is really putting its full weight behind them,” said Matt Dickens of the Raine Foundation. “The family, the two remaining survivors, they have nothing. They had nothing that was salvageable out of the house.” Dickens said the family will need every little bit they can get. “It takes time, right? So, when you look at the insurance coming in, figuring out what they’re going to do with their home, that’s going to take a lot of time. So, every dollar that’s been coming in and getting to them is going to be useful.”
The family’s dog, Duchess, who was initially thought to have escaped the fire, was found dead in the house.
The police department has vetted resources on its Facebook page where donations can be made to help the Montanaro family, including the Raine Foundation; the Boy Scouts of America Monmouth Council’s Alumni Disaster Fund (Montanaro is the council’s COO and Assistant Scout Executive) at monmouthbsa.org/alumni; and the GoFundMe at gofundme.com (search Jackie Montanaro.)
The article originally appeared in the January 19 – 25, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
