The flames rose a little before 10 p.m. on Halloween at the white wood-frame house in Paterson, N.J.
At first, a passerby saw the smoke billowing and assumed it was part of an elaborate haunted house. Then, she saw children near the lawn, still dressed in pajamas, yelling for help.
By the time firefighters doused the blaze, five of the home’s 12 occupants — a man, his wife and their three children — were killed, according to André Sayegh, the mayor of Paterson. The man who died, Raid Abuhadbeh, 39, was the cousin of a New Jersey assemblyman, Al Abdelaziz.
As of Sunday afternoon, the cause of the fire was still under investigation.
Mr. Abdelaziz confirmed in a statement that his cousin and his cousin’s family were killed in the fire.
“Our hearts are broken, but we trust that God will give us strength during these difficult times,” Mr. Abdelaziz wrote in a social media post.
Mr. Abuhadbeh, a Palestinian American who was born and raised in New Jersey, worked as a butcher and had lived at the house on Emerson Avenue for about five years, according to his brother, Mohammed Abuhadbeh. Paterson, a city of about 160,000, is about 15 miles northwest of Manhattan.
Mr. Abuhadbeh said his brother was a loving and kind person who “put people in front of him.”
Samad Hussain, a next-door neighbor, said that the flames were so intense that they melted the siding of his home. He said the fire appeared to begin at the back of the house, and high winds kicked up the flames, while Mr. Hussain’s family tried to fight the blaze with a hose.
Several people who were on the first floor escaped the burning building, Mr. Hussain said, but the victims were on the second floor.
Quadasia McNeil, whose aunt lives near the home, said she was driving by on Friday night and assumed the smoke she saw was part of Halloween decorations. But then she saw the flames and quickly called 911. She said children dressed in pajamas, who appeared to have been in the house, were calling for help from the street.
The downstairs residents were an Ecuadorean American family related to Mr. Abuhadbeh’s wife, according to Alyssa Quinonez, a friend of the family.
“They were just a close-knit family,” said Ms. Quinonez, who is helping to raise funds to cover funeral costs and temporary housing expenses.
Mr. Sayegh, the mayor of Paterson, visited the house on Saturday and said he was scheduled to meet with members of the victims’ family.
“People are going to read that there were five fatalities,” Mr. Sayegh said. “But that’s a family of five.”
Tracey Tully contributed reporting and Georgia Gee contributed research.
Stefanos Chen is a Times reporter covering New York City’s transit system.
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