UPDATE: Aug. 31, 2:36 p.m.
By Leila Merrill
NESCOPECK, Pa. — Since Aug. 5, when 10 members of a firefighter’s family died in a house fire, members of the community have been showing support and raising funds for survivors.
In the immediate aftermath, the Nescopeck Volunteer Fire Company started collecting monetary donations for the survivors, PAhomepage reported.
People placed yellow and red flowers near what remained of the home.
Mifflinville resident Deanna Yoder delivered six cases of water to the Nescopeck Volunteer Fire Company.
“I know they need it, for all the efforts and everything they’ve done today and throughout the years and everything else for people,” said Yoder.
Robin Massina, daughter of the mayor, set up a GoFundMe page that raised $32,690 to cover memorial and other costs. The fundraiser has since ended.
And a little more than a week after the disaster, another one struck. One person was killed and 17 were injured at a fundraiser for the family. Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes, 24, admitted to driving into the location of the fundraiser, the Intoxicology Department, and killing his mother afterward.
related reporting
- Funerals begin for victims of Pa. blaze that killed 10 members of FF’s family
- Vehicle plows into fundraiser for victims of fire that killed Pa. FF’s family members, killing 1
- Dr. Douglas Kupas: Teamwork key to response to MCI at fundraiser for Pa. fire that killed 10
UPDATE: Aug. 5, 4:22 p.m. PT
NESCOPECK, Pa. — Fire tore quickly through a house in Pennsylvania early Friday morning, killing seven adults and three children and horrifying a volunteer firefighter who arrived to battle the blaze only to discover the victims were his own family, authorities said.
The three children who died were ages 5, 6 and 7, Pennsylvania State Police said in a news release, while the seven adults ranged from the late teens to a 79-year-old man.
Nescopeck Volunteer Fire Company firefighter Harold Baker said by phone that the 10 victims included his son, daughter, father-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, three grandchildren and two other relatives.
He said that 13 dogs were also in the two-story home but did not say if he knew whether any survived.
The fire in Nescopeck was reported shortly after 2:30 a.m. One victim was found dead inside the single-family home shortly after emergency responders arrived. Two other victims were discovered later in the morning. State police said criminal investigators were looking into the fire.
Some people were able to safely flee the burning home, authorities said.
Baker said that the address initially given for the call was a neighboring home, but that he realized it was his family members’ residence as the fire truck approached.
“When we turned the corner up here on Dewey (Street) I knew right away what house it was just by looking down the street,” Baker told the Citizens’ Voice newspaper of Wilkes-Barre. “I was on the first engine, and when we pulled up, the whole place was fully involved. We tried to get in to them.”
One of the victims, 19-year-old Dale Baker, was a firefighter who joined the company when he was 16, said Heidi Knorr, the secretary of the fire company.
“He was such a fun loving soul,” she said in a phone interview. “He just loved life.”
Both of Dale Baker’s parents are members of the fire service, and the family was “always willing to help lend a hand to anyone in need,” Knorr said. His mother was not among the dead listed by Harold Baker.
Nescopeck is a small town on the Susquehanna River, about 20 miles southwest of Wilkes-Barre. The house was in a residential street of largely owner-occupied, single family homes.
Mike Swank, who lives two doors away across the street, said he happened to be awake at that hour and looked outside after hearing a sharp explosion. He saw the porch “was really going” and went outside, using another neighbor’s hose to keep the blaze from spreading to a garage.
“I seen two guys outside and they were in various states of hysteria,” Swank said in a phone interview.
One of them was on a cellphone, “and I’m trying to ask him if everybody’s out,” he said. “The other guy was out in the street and he was just running around in circles.”
Swank said he wasn’t able to get information from them. A fence prevented him from getting to the back of the property.
“It was so quick and so much smoke, you just knew nobody was going to make it out,” Swank said. He saw cadaver dogs being used to search the scene until the bodies were located.
He said the family moved in a few months ago under what he understood to be a rent-to-own agreement.
He had not gotten to know them but noticed they spent a lot of time on the cluttered front porch, where he believes the fire may have begun.
Baker, who was relieved of his firefighting duties because of his relationship to the victims, said 14 people were living in the home. One of them was out delivering newspapers, and three others escaped, he said.
“The kids that were there and my two kids were just visiting their aunt and uncle,” Baker told WNEP. “Those were the ones who own the house. They were there visiting and going into the pool and all that.”
Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Derek Felsman said a “complex criminal investigation” was underway. Troopers were interviewing survivors, he said.
Original report
By Leila Merrill
NESCOPECK, Pa. — Ten members of a firefighter’s family died in a house fire early Friday.
Three adults were able to get out, Fox56 reported.
The Pennsylvania State Police said that the victims ranged in age from 5 to 79.
https://twitter.com/FOX56WOLF/status/1555662963197022209
Crews were called to the single-family, two-story home in Nescopeck at about 2:30 a.m.
Firefighter Harold Baker, who was at the fire station with family on Friday, told Newswatch 16 that he was one of the first to arrive at the scene.
“We pulled up and the whole place was fully involved. We tried to get in to them, but there was no way to get in to them,” Baker said.
A number of relatives were visiting those who lived in the home.
“I also lost my son, my daughter, grandson, two other grandkids in there, my father-in-law, my brother-in-law, and my sister-in-law. All lost.”
He said 13 dogs were also in the home.
“The kids that were there and my two kids were just visiting their aunt and uncle. Those were the ones who own the house. They were there visiting and going into the pool and all that.”
The Red Cross is providing counseling services to the first responders and the family.
Three fundraisers have been set up: An online one at gofundme.com, and in-person and phone-based fundraiser at the fire company and an in-person one at a restaurant.
The investigation into the fire is ongoing.