A family of five, including three children and two adults, is dead after a fire tore through their home overnight in Paterson, New Jersey, the mayor said. 

Strong winds fueled the flames on Emerson Avenue as firefighters also battled frigid temperatures to get the blaze under control, officials said Saturday. 

Family of 5 dead, mayor says

The children killed were 14, 12 and 7 years old, the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office said. Two adults, a 39-year-old male and 38-year-old female, were also pronounced dead at the scene, investigators said.

They were a family, according to Mayor Andre Sayegh. 

"This tragedy really hurts my heart considering that there are five fatalities, but you don't view it that way. They're not numbers. It's a father, mother, and three children. It was a family of five, unfortunately, no longer with us," Sayegh said. 

Paterson's fire chief said crews were on the scene for hours after the house started burning just before 10 p.m. Friday.

"It was a fast-moving fire due to the wind conditions, which contributed to the rapid spread to the upper floors where the victims were found," Chief Alex Alicea said. 

The rear of the home was completely charred by the morning. 

Neighbors tried to help battle fire

According to neighbors, two families lived in the home – a family of seven on the first floor, and the family of five on the top floor.

Neighbor Samad Hussain said his family alerted the family of seven about the fire.

"They were in the living room watching the TV. They were like, 'What fire? Where is the fire?'" he said.

That family of seven escaped, and neighbors said they tried to do what they could to help the second family.

"Within two minutes, I came home and I saw my dad was using the hose in the backyard. He was trying to stop the fire as much as he can," Hussain said.

Neighbors could hear chainsaws being used by firefighters to open up the roof at the rear of the house, and the heat melted the siding on Hussain's home.

Hussain's nephew, Tasleem Ahmed, said he ran to the back of the home, where he saw who he believed to be the 38-year-old victim.

"If you go to the back, you could see the stove ... and the lady started throwing water at it, and I think the wind made it even worse, and then that's when it caught up to the stairs," he said.

He added, "When I went to the back, you could hear the kids screaming, and it was just like the last thing you could hear ... They were like, 'Mom, Mom, Mom,' they were just screaming for their mom."

"A lot of sorrow within the community"

Neighbors spent the day Saturday helping friends and family of the victims clean out the charred home.

"Clearly there's a lot of sorrow within the community," Sayegh said.

The fire chief said it could take time to fully identify the victims, but Sayegh said the father who died comes from a prominent family in the local Palestinian community.

"He had a relative that was a deputy mayor here in the City of Paterson and a current Assemblyman who is his cousin," he said.

"Very good people. Really, really good people, friendly. Every time I drive by, they would always wave. If they were outside, they would see my car, I would beep the horn and I would wave to them ... and then to hear about this, it's unbelievable," John Miller, a neighbor, said.  

"At night, you used to hear the little kids arguing with each other ... It reminded me of me and my sister," Tasleem said. "It's just, like, very sad that we won't be able to hear them arguing again."

The American Red Cross said it was helping seven people displaced by the fire by providing temporary housing, food, clothing and other emergency supplies.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.