Officials: Two people die in house fires in Suffolk County

Two individuals died in separate Suffolk house fires on Tuesday, including a woman in West Babylon and a man in Northampton, officials said,

Both blazes, officials said, appear to be noncriminal.

First Precinct police officers responded at 3:30 a.m. to a fire at a two-story home on Little East Neck Road in West Babylon, said Det. Lt. Kevin Beyrer, commanding officer of the Suffolk Police Department's Homicide Squad.

The fire appears to have started in the second floor bedroom of Colleen Jalbert, 71, who was in bed at the time and suffers from health issues, Beyrer said. 

"Unfortunately she was unable to escape," Breyer said at a news conference Tuesday in Yaphank. "First Precinct patrol officers responded with the West Babylon Fire Department and North Babylon Fire Department. The fire departments were able to extinguish the fire and, at that time, they discovered the 71-year-old woman dead inside the residence."

Jalbert's 47-year-old daughter, who was not identified, was in the home at the time of the blaze. She was taken to a hospital where she was treated for minor burns and smoke inhalation and released.

A preliminary investigation has determined the cause of the fire to be noncriminal in nature, Beyrer said.

In the other blaze, a man was killed after a fire tore through a home on Wildwood Trail in Northampton, according to Southampton Town police.

Authorities, including the Riverhead Volunteer Fire Department, responded to the fire shortly before 1 a.m. but were unable to enter the home, which was fully engulfed in flames, police said.

The identity of the man has not yet been released.