Sunday Brick Township Fire Claims Victim, 81

Mary Irene Scarnechia, the 81-year-old caught in the conflagration that consumed a Brick Township senior living unit Sunday, lost her struggle to survive her injuries late Monday, says the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.

Scarnechia sustained lung and throat burns and was rushed to Saint Barnabas Burn Center in Livingston. Her grandson, 18, survived the flames that reportedly took three hours to knock down.

Point Pleasant Borough first-aiders in the midst of delivering a patient to Ocean Medical Center were the first to notice smoke in the Nasto Terrace complex and transported the victim while fire companies from Brick, Point Borough and Point Beach got to work on the flames.