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Wyckoff Woman, 79, Who Died In House Fire Identified

UPDATE: Virginia D'Amelio Ingenito of Wyckoff was home alone Sunday afternoon when what quickly became an intense fire apparently began in her kitchen.

481 Meer Avenue, Wyckoff on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023.

481 Meer Avenue, Wyckoff on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023.

Photo Credit: Tom Madigan
481 Meer Avenue, Wyckoff

481 Meer Avenue, Wyckoff

Photo Credit: Tom Madigan
The Bergen County Prosecutor's Arson Investigations Unit was summoned to the fire on Meer Avenue in Wyckoff on Sunday, Nov. 5.

The Bergen County Prosecutor's Arson Investigations Unit was summoned to the fire on Meer Avenue in Wyckoff on Sunday, Nov. 5.

Photo Credit: Tom Madigan

Wyckoff police who arrived first at the Meer Avenue home where she lived with her son and two grandsons found the 79-year-old Italian immigrant unresponsive just after noon Nov. 5, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said.

Ingenito was in cardiac arrest when taken to The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, where she was pronounced dead a short time later, responders said.

The rear of the house, where the kitchen was located, was fully involved when firefighters arrived. The blaze instantly went to a second alarm and then to a third soon after that.

The main body of the fire was knocked down in about an hour.

The Bergen County Prosecutor's Arson Investigations Unit was summoned early on.

In a brief statement issued Sunday night, Musella didn't characterize the suspected cause of the fire -- only that members of his office and Wyckoff police are investigating it.

Mutual responders included firefighters from:

  • Allendale

  • Fair Lawn

  • Franklin Lakes

  • Glen Rock

  • Hawthorne

  • Haledon

  • Ho-Ho-Kus

  • Midland Park

  • Mahwah

  • North Haledon

  • Oakland

  • Ramsey

  • Ridgewood

  • Saddle River

  • Waldwick

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