Grief As 'Inseparable' Couple Killed In Morris County Fire ID'd

BUTLER – Anna and Richard Ryczek didn't have much. But they did have each other, their son and the house they planned to give him someday, friends say.

Two days after their tragic loss, one nearby Butler resident, Pier Rondin, wanted to give them something more. So he's asking that people lay a wreath at the house the "inseparable" New Jersey couple loved, where they were killed in a fire on New Year's Eve.

"I felt relief tinged with guilt and horror as I knew my neighbors were inside that house – their car was in the driveway and the older immigrant Polish couple were inseparable," he said. "I never want to feel that way again but I have a feeling I will."

Anna and Richard Ryczek died in the fire that ripped through the Myrtle Avenue home on New Year's Eve, prosecutors said. Now the neighborhood is trying to do all they can to remember, honor and pay respect to the couple who never left each other's sights.

"Residents of Butler, wouldn’t it be a show of solidarity if you took your Christmas wreath and laid it the doorstep of the tragic house on Myrtle Ave?" Rondin asked. "It costs you nothing yet it would be a powerful sign of compassion.

"Christmas is not over in our hearts."

Indeed, the tragedy has shaken the community since Jane Clarke Rondin first saw smoke everywhere and "found all hell breaking loose."

"A hysterical teenager who had alerted the police, crying on my lawn. I sat down with her and soothed her," she said. "She was a heroine."

Pier Rondin said the house "was the only possession the old couple had to pass on to their son," he said on Facebook, which he allowed Patch to republish.

The fatal blaze happened around 4:54 p.m. on Tuesday when firefighters were first notified, the Morris County Prosecutor's Office said. The residence was heavily damaged as a result of the blaze, the MCPO said.

Fire crews were on the scene for about seven hours. Initially, one of the victims was found dead and another was injured in the blaze, NJ Advance Media reported.

The injured person was taken by helicopter to Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston and later died, NJ Advance Media reported.

Around the time the fire was reported, Rondin said he and his son took their dogs for a walk. Seeing that it was about to rain, they opted for a short, 20-minute route.

"Within the first two minutes, we passed the house that was going to be on fire 15 minutes later. Nothing out of the extraordinary noted – no burning smell or sight of smoke," he said.

Then, as Rondin and his son came within sight of their own house, a tall black greasy column of smoke hung over the neighborhood.

"At that instant, the realization came over me – Jane is in the house alone, and I started chanting 'Where is that smoke coming from?' while running up the hill to turn the corner into our street," Rondin said.

He said he was convinced of the worst, ready to instinctively run into his own house to "do what needed doing."

"It was then that I noted the black smoke was jetting from my neighbor’s kitchen," he said.

"This was a reminder: never fail to say 'I love you' when parting, never go to bed angry, test the context of your differences, no matter how bad things get. If you have each other, you have the universe, never assume you will get away unscathed from life," he said.

"Death came a-visiting next door. It could have skipped a door. It happens."