Flames engulfed a Franklin Township home just before midnight, claiming the lives of five people

By Pamela Sroka-Holzmann
The Express-Times

CARBON COUNTY, Pa. — Five people, including four children, have died in a Carbon County house fire, according to investigators.

Flames ignited just before 11:50 p.m. Tuesday in the home on the first block of Willow Street in Franklin Township, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Anthony Petroski III, public information officer for Troop N, said.

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Responding troopers and firefighters found the main floor and back second floor of the home “fully engulfed,” Petroski said.

Carbon County Chief Deputy Coroner Jason T. Smith said five occupants, who all lived at the home, were found deceased inside. In a news release Wednesday morning, Smith said a woman died along with a juvenile female victim and three boys.

Petroski told lehighvalleylive.com no other people were inside when the blaze broke out.

Lehighton Area School District Superintendent Jason Moser in a statement on the district website said it is believed a kindergartener, first-grader and ninth-grader who attended Lehighton schools were among those who died.

“There are no words available to express how deeply sad this is for everybody,” he wrote. “Please keep the families, friends, classmates and anyone who has a close relationship with the deceased in your thoughts and prayers.”

Photos posted on social media show flames pouring through the windows and burning through the roof. Billows of heavy smoke are shown filling the sky overhead.

It’s unclear how long it took crews to get flames under control. Franklin Township Volunteer Fire Co. officials couldn’t immediately be reached for more information Wednesday morning.

Autopsies are scheduled for Thursday to determine the cause and manners of death of the residents. The coroner’s office currently is withholding the identities of the deceased to give the family time to grieve.

“On behalf of the Carbon County Coroner’s Office we extend our sincere condolences to the family members during this tragic loss of their loved ones,” Smith said.

It’s unclear what caused the blaze or where it originated. The fire is being investigated by Pennsylvania State Police in Lehighton’s Criminal Investigation Unit along and the Troop N Fire Marshal Unit.

The tragic incident follows a fatal fire Sunday in south-central Pennsylvania’s Lebanon County that also left five dead.

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