A fire described as “brutal” and “violent” engulfed a home in Northeast Pennsylvania early Friday morning, killing 10 people, including several relatives of a firefighter who responded to the blaze, according to authorities and the firefighter.
Three children, ages 5, 6 and 7, were among those killed in the Nescopeck fire, about 45 miles southwest of Scranton, Pennsylvania State Police said. The other victims ranged in age from 19 to 79, officials said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. State police said three people were able to escape safely.
Harold Baker, a firefighter with the Nescopeck Volunteer Fire Company, was asleep early Friday when he was awakened by the chirp of his pager reporting a house fire with 10 people possibly trapped inside.
Mr Baker rushed to the station and was then among the first firefighters on the scene. When he turned the corner, his heart sank, he said in a phone interview Friday night. The address he was given was incorrect. His son Dale, 19, and daughter Starr, 22, were in the home engulfed in flames, he said. In fact, Mr Baker said, he knew everyone in the two-storey house, which belonged to his brother-in-law, who managed to escape.
“I tried to get in as quickly as possible,” he said. “I tried three times and then they found out whose house it was and why I was trying to get in there, and they pulled me over,” he said of his colleagues. “They said, ‘No, you’ve got to get the hell out of here.’
When Dale, a volunteer firefighter who had followed in his father’s footsteps, was found, Mr. Baker’s colleagues pinned a flag over his body. “They took him out as a fallen firefighter,” he said.
Starr Baker, who was due to marry next year, also did not make it out alive, Mr. Baker said, adding that he was a relative of eight of the 10 people who died in the fire.
Violet Kessler of Berwick, Pennsylvania, said she was related to many of those who died.
Among the family members she said she lost were her father, brother, sister-in-law, nephew and niece, who is her goddaughter. She said some family members were visiting Thursday with plans to spend the day together Friday at the pool and decided to stay overnight at the house.
“I don’t even understand things,” she said of the losses. “I don’t even know how to take it all in my brain. It’s like a dream.”
A neighbor, Michael Swank, said he woke up around 2:30 a.m. and heard popping sounds that he initially thought were gunshots. He looked outside and saw the porch of a house across the street engulfed in flames. He said the noises he heard sounded like paint cans or propane tanks catching fire and exploding.
“I knew the fire department wasn’t going to make it in time” to save the occupants of the house, Mr. Swank said. He neither heard nor saw any activity to indicate anyone was trying to escape the fire, he said.
“Boy, it was just a horrific fire,” which spread quickly from the porch to the upper floors, he said, adding: “It was hell. God bless those kids who were there. They had no prayer.
In addition to Dale Baker and Starr Baker, state police identified the deceased adults as David Daubert Sr., 79; Brian Daubert, 42; Shannon Daubert, 45; Laura Daubert, 47; and Marian Slusser, 54.
Mr. Swank said tenants at the home rarely lived there for more than a year or two.
Kirsten Noyes contributed research.
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