Patricia Gennett died in a fire that engulfed her home Friday night and also claimed the life of her dog.
HOPEWELL TWP - For the last 20 years that he lived in a house on Coleman Lane, Mike Johnson remembers his neighbor Patricia Gennett, waving to him every time she drove by. It was just in her nature, Johnson said.
"She was really nice... She always waved going by, and smiled," he said.
Gennett, an 85-year-old widow of a former Burlington County fire chief lived alone with her beloved dog - a beagle - in a house on 46 Coleman Lane. Both Gennett and her dog died in a fire that engulfed her house Friday night.
Police initially responded to the call after receiving an alert from Gennett. She told a dispatcher that her house was on fire and, around 10 p.m., three police officers showed up at the scene, according to a statement from Hopewell Township police. The officers, William Gaskill, Vincent Amabile and James Klesney, broke down a door of the house but couldn't initially get in due to the thick smoke and flames. Once they were able to enter the house, they found Gennett, who had died on the first floor of the home.
Johnson spoke about the fire Saturday, choking up a little when he remembered Gennett. He said he'd been away from home but received a call about the fire and rushed back.
"I walked up and I saw her car. I knew, then," he said.
85-year-old woman perishes in house fire
He added that the response from the multiple fire departments was incredible - with firefighters parking all the way down the winding and narrow Coleman Lane and trekking up to the fire with heavy hoses to extinguish the blaze.
Johnson added that Gennett, who had lived in the house for over two decades, and her husband, had been good neighbors. After Gennett's husband died, Johnson said he used to shovel her walk in an attempt to help her out.
He said that beyond being a good neighbor, Gennett was an avid lover of dogs. A sticker on her car, which was still parked in her driveway Saturday, read "I love my beagle," and Johnson said she and her husband used to win awards in dog competitions.
A website called BraceBeagling.com has a post remembering Gennett's husband, Marty, after his death in 2009. It says he was president of the Central Jersey Beagle Club for years and that he and Patricia Gennett won the 2009 Field Champion Purina Award.
"They always loved their dogs and the dogs were their kids," the website says.
Mercer County prosecutors and police were still investigating the cause of the blaze Saturday but had not come to a determination that evening. Gennett was a smoker and had oxygen tanks but investigators didn't know whether those factors contributed to the flames, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office.
Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman