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Delton Brown, 32, and his wife, Amoya (Bennett) Brown, 29, were dedicated church-goers who served fellow worshippers as well as the greater community, said Winston Christian, pastor of the West Side (Pentecostal) Worship Center in Englewood.
"I don't know what I'm going to do without them," Christian told reporters outside the Arlington Avenue home owned by Delton Brown's parents where the couple died before dawn. "They are that integral a part of our ministry here."
Amoya Brown was a case manager at Care Plus NJ in Hackensack and an adjunct professor at Bergen Community College. She'd previously worked as a clinician for Catholic Charities.
Her husband was a checking department representative for Columbia Bank, according to his LinkedIn profile.
They were married in December 2016.
The accidental blaze trapped the couple in their attic apartment after breaking out on the floor below shortly before 3:30 a.m., responders said.
A township firefighter sustained a minor leg burn and was treated at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston before being released, Township Manager Dean Kazinci said. Two other firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion at the scene, he said.
The township "is providing as many resources as we can" to family members, Kazinci said. The two-family home will have to be demolished, he added.
Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said his Major Crime Unit's arson squad was determining the cause, assisted by Teaneck police and the Bergen County Sheriff's Bureau of Criminal Identification Bureau, which collected evidence.
Meanwhile, Dwight Robinson of the parent Church of God of Prophecy said church officials were "soliciting everyone at this time to be in earnest prayer for their family, friends and the Englewood COGOP Church family."
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