CLAIRTON — An early morning town house fire, which authorities believe started in the kitchen, killed three children and injured one teenager Friday.
Sisters Rachel Finn, 9, and Deausha Faulk, 6, were killed, along with 2-year-old Michael Zigler, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner said. Finn and Faulk lived in the home, and the younger boy was not related to them, a deputy medical examiner’s said.
Authorities believe the fire in Clairton, about 10 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, began in a kitchen, Deputy Allegheny County fire marshal Donald Brucker said. The cause of the fire remained under investigation, but it was not considered suspicious.
The home had four working, battery-operated smoke alarms and there were no space heaters or anything else that could have obviously contributed to the fire, Brucker said.
Brucker said Clairton police were the first to arrive when the fire was reported just before 1:15 a.m. Two officers went into the home but were driven back by smoke and heat. When firefighters arrived moments later, they entered with hoses and found the three children in two upstairs bedrooms.
Several people were outside the residence when firefighters arrived, and some of them had been inside when the fire broke out, but their identities and relationship to the children, if any, remained unclear Friday, Brucker said.
Brucker said the teenager was being treated for burns and smoke inhalation, but authorities did not immediately release the teen’s name.
The home is in a quiet, residential neighborhood on the outskirts of this suburb, home to United States Steel Corp.’s Coke Works. At daybreak Friday, the smell of smoke hung in the air, but little evidence of a fire was visible from the street. The rear of the home was badly damaged, with a melted awning, broken windows and scorched bricks.
Tray Daniels, 12, lives down the block and said he knew all three children who died. His sister was good friends with Rachel Finn.
“We rode the same bus to school every day,” Daniels said. “I think my sister thinks it was a dream.”
A 41-year-old neighbor, who identified himself only as Jason, said he saw a lot of smoke when he arrived home from his job at Kentucky Fried Chicken and saw a woman outside screaming that her children were still inside.
“It was so hard for them to get the kids out, because the door was hot from the fire,” he said of the firefighters’ rescue efforts. He estimated it took at least 20 minutes to reach the children.
“It was terrible,” he said.
Local News
NEW – 3 children dead in town house fire near Pittsburgh
- Local News
-
-
Focus on Section 8 questioned
Some Moxham community leaders are concerned that one subject – Section 8 housing – is receiving too much focus in the ongoing discussion about crime in the Johnstown neighborhood.
-
Clean sweep efforts: Downtown group targets crime, litter
The Discover Downtown Johnstown Partnership is working to clean up the city’s central business district in two different ways.
-
In Northern Cambria, 13 battle for four slots
With four seats on the Northern Cambria school board up for grabs, a long list of residents have lined up hoping to capture one of the slots.
-
Standardized test debate: Lawmakers disagree about use as graduation requirement
The typical Pennsylvania student will spend more than 46 hours taking standardized state tests during his or her academic career. That is the equivalent of more than a week’s worth of school and does not take into account the amount of time that schools spend specifically preparing for tests or helping students who have failed a standardized test.
-
Local grad hurt in Afghanistan
A 2009 graduate of Greater Johnstown High School is recovering from a head injury received Monday while serving in Afghanistan.
-
Health care firm moving production back to Somerset
A local health care equipment manufacturer's experiment in shipping jobs to China will end, thanks in part to a $1.8 million federal loan guarantee.
-
Johnstown man charged with indecent assault
A Johnstown man was jailed Friday after authorities alleged he had indecent contact with a minor.
-
In brief: Country club offers free golf for veterans
A free golf day for veterans will be held Monday at Somerset Country Club, 416 Plank Road.
-
The story behind Johnstown’s viral video
The way John Porter tells it, some of his co-workers now call him “John Deer.”
-
Event honors Korean War vets
Thanks to the Korean War veteran, the tide of communism on the Korean Peninsula was stopped with a free South Korea able to become one of the world’s economic giants, an Army colonel told hundreds of Korean War veterans and guests on Thursday in Johnstown.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Focus on Section 8 questioned
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash
NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash
Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country
Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest
Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting
CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools
$1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest
NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor
Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool
Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids
Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree
Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics
Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday
Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge
Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel?
Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot
Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction
Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind
Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting
