Two women were seriously injured in a fire Monday morning in Jersey City.

Officials say the fire started in a two-family rental home Monday morning. Tenants who live in the home tell News 12 that the cause of the fire was an electrical malfunction.

An 83-year-old woman and her 63-year-old daughter both suffered smoke inhalation. They live on the second floor and became trapped while trying to get out. The daughter is in a wheelchair.

“My broken heart. I feel so bad. I don’t know what happened. They’re in the hospital right now,” says Sonia Garretson.

Garretson is a home health aide. She was upstairs caring for the 63-year-old. She says she is devastated that she could not get the women to safety. She says thick black smoke started rising from the apartment below.

“I called 911, but it’s coming too fast – the smoke. Everything,” Garretson says.

She says she tried to get the women to safety but that she wasn’t physically able to.

“In the wheelchair, she’s heavy and I can’t do it. I can’t do it by myself,” Garretson says.

She called for help and two men ran inside but were quickly overcome by the smoke. That's when firefighters came through the front door.

"The companies found two occupants in the hallway and two other civilians trying to assist that all were overcome,” says Deputy Fire Chief William McClintock.

McClintock says that it appears that the fire started in the rear of the home. No one was on the first floor at the time.

As many as 11 people were displaced, including Dazania Robinson who lives on the first floor with her siblings.

"I mean we just moved here. We weren't even here for a year yet,” Robinson says.

The family upstairs lost a dog to the smoke. Two dogs downstairs were rescued.