TOMS RIVER – A late-morning fire Thursday destroyed an East Rolling Hills home and took the lives of four beloved family pets trapped inside.

The home belonged to the Golembeski and Hollingsworth families, a family of dedicated township volunteers: Toms River First Aid Capt. Alyssa Golembeski; her sister and firefighter/EMT Ashley Hollingsworth, president elect of that squad and volunteer with Toms River Fire Company No. 2; their mother and EMT Christine Golembeski; and their aunt, grandmother, and 11-year-old cousin.

The fire claimed the lives of two pet birds, a pet rabbit and one family dog.

According to the Toms River First Aid Squad, the family “lost everything except for the clothes on their backs, two weeks before Christmas.”

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