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The building superintendent told investigators he entered the apartment with a social worker and another nearby civilian after seeing smoke just before 10 o’clock this morning.
He found the child lying on a bed next to smoldering clothes and a hot, plugged-in iron, and saws more clothing that caught fire on top of a lighted stove and filled the kitchen with smoke, Acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park said.
They quickly doused both fires, Park said.
The girl was taken to a nearby hospital for what appeared to be smoke inhalation and is expected to be OK, the prosecutor said.
Authorities located and arrested her mother, 26-year-old Murlande Colin, several miles away in Cranford several hours later, she said. Colin was being held on $25,000 bail.
Park thanked the Roselle Park Police Department, as well as the quick-thinking building super and citizens at the Woodside Gardens apartment complex who helped him.
She noted that the investigation was continuing and that there could be additional developments.
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