The Orange community is mourning the loss of two sisters who died while trying to rescue their disabled father from a house fire on Thanksgiving.
Frantzia Fleury, 49, and Pojanee “PJ” Fleury, 42, were killed in the blaze, which broke out around 5 p.m. Thursday at their home on Mosswood Avenue in Orange, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
Their father and six others were able to escape safely.
A GoFundMe campaign created to support the family described the sisters as “heroes” and beloved mothers.
“Both sisters were deeply close to their parents and devoted to their children, each leaving behind a child who now faces life without their mother,” the campaign says.
The fire “has shaken the entire community and left the family facing unimaginable grief and hardship,” according to the campaign.
Frantzia, a “proud” Marine, was known for her strength, compassion and “unwavering love” for her family, a loved one wrote on the Gofundme page.
She worked as an X-ray technician at Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Pojanee was a publisher, author and inventor who founded Brown Eyez Magazine, a health and wellness publication that launched in 2007. She also hosted an interview show on WHCR, a community radio station in Harlem.
The GoFundMe campaign, which has raised more than $24,000 as of Sunday afternoon, will cover funeral expenses, support the sisters’ children and help to rebuild the family home.