Boarding House Blaze Kills 7 in Pa.; 13 Hurt

SWEET VALLEY, Pa. —  Fire broke out today at a boarding house filled mostly with elderly people, and seven people were killed, authorities said.

At least 13 people, including three firefighters and the home’s owner, were injured, two of them critically, officials at three hospitals said.

The fire at the Thomas Guest Home, located about 100 yards from the fire station, broke out about 4 a.m and was brought under control within two hours. It was not immediately known how many people were inside the two-story wood-frame building at the time.

Fire Chief Robert Walsh said the dead were found on the first floor, all of them in their bedrooms. Some were still in their beds, while others apparently died trying to escape, he said.

Many Elderly Residents

Residents of the home ranged in age from 20 to about 80, but most were elderly.

‘It’s not a nursing home, it’s a guest home,” Walsh said. “They’re ambulatory people. They’re elderly. . . . But it evidently caught them unexpected.”

He said the home had recently been inspected and the cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Barbara Purdy, who lives three doors away, said a survivor, the 14-year-old son of the home’s owners, told her he went to sleep after 1 a.m. “and the next thing he heard was his mother yelling, ‘Fire!”’

Among the injured were the home’s owner, Ronald Thomas, 53, who was listed in serious condition at Mercy Hospital in nearby Wilkes-Barre with second-degree burns of the face, back, hands and arms.