House fire kills father and 4 kids, including newborn, while mom, 2 other children escape
A 27-year-old father and four of his young children perished in a Pennsylvania house fire while his fiancée and two other children narrowly escaped the fatal inferno Wednesday morning, according to authorities.
Five members of the family, including a newborn, were killed in the intense flames shortly after midnight in Jeannette, officials said. The victims were identified as Tyler King, 27, Kyson John, 7, Kinzleigh John, 6, Keagan John, 3 and 1-month-old baby Korbyn John, WTAE reported.
“They’re just good people. It’s a shame, that family will never be the same again,” neighbor Jack Mull told KDKA.
The mother, Miranda, was stranded on the back roof during the blaze with a baby in her arms before Mull and firefighters climbed a ladder to help them down, according to the station. One of the woman’s sons, who suffered a broken leg, was also saved.
The two surviving kids were a 1-year-old and 10-year-old, NBC News reported.
The mother tried to save more of her children, but the fire was overwhelming.
“The mother tried again, and she got burnt,” Mull told KDKA. “I mean, it was her kids in there, you know, they’re very good parents and they love their kids.”
Fire Chief Bill Frye said firefighters struggled to put the flames out because of water supply problems.
“The first hydrant that we hit gave us a little bit of water, not even enough to make it off the hill of the scene. So, we did run out of tank water at one point,” Frye told WTAE. “And by that point, the fire was well involved, and we had to pull our guys out.”
The fire spread to another home next door, but the occupants there fled safely.
Both houses were reportedly destroyed.
“It’s a devastating loss for our families,” Delena Lewis, Tyler King’s mother, told WTAE.
“Not only mine, but his fiancée and the other two surviving children. They’re left without a father. How do you explain that to them?”
The cause of the fire hasn’t been determined.
