Two children, 5 and 7, die in Fayette County fire
Alyssa Choiniere/For the Observer-Reporter
Officials are trying to determine the cause of a South Union Township fire that killed two children, 5 and 7, early Tuesday.
RyLeigh Weasenforth, 7, and her brother, Gunner Weasenforth, 5, were killed in an early morning fire in their South Union Township home on Jan. 8.
Authorities are investigating the cause of an early morning fire in South Union Township that killed two children, 5 and 7.
State police and a scene specialist with the Fayette County Coroner's Office discuss a fire that killed two children, Ryleigh Weasenforth, 7, and her brother, Gunner Weasenforth, 5 at about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday. The children were asleep in bed and became trapped in their bedroom.
Two young children were killed in an early morning fire when they became trapped in their bedroom Tuesday.
RyLeigh Weasenforth, 7, and her brother, Gunner, 5, were pronounced dead at the scene by the Fayette County Coroner’s Office.
First responders rushed to the South Mount Vernon Avenue Extension home at about 5:30 a.m., where flames were shooting from all sides of the house. Family members were on the porch, shouting for the children. Firefighters quickly determined it was not possible to save them. The children were sleeping when the fire started just outside their first-floor bedroom, preventing a rescue, said South Union Township Volunteer Fire Co. Chief Rick McCormick.
“I’ve got a couple little kids at home myself,” he said through tears. “It’s pretty hard right now. We did all we could.”
Two men, the children’s father and grandfather, were both injured in an attempt to save them. They suffered burns to their hands and faces. A firefighter also suffered a badly burned hand in the blaze, officials said.
The structure of the old home made the fire difficult to extinguish, McCormick said. The lower level of the home was gutted.
A state police fire marshal was called to determine the cause of the fire, but preliminary investigations did not indicate anything suspicious, said Trooper Robert Broadwater.
The house was divided into two apartments, with one family upstairs and a second family downstairs. The men living in each apartment were brothers, according to neighbors. Their parents lived in the house behind them on Eighth Street, which was also damaged due to intense heat and shooting flames.
Andy Yuhanik, who lives across the street, said he woke up to hear his neighbors screaming from the porch. Linda Talbott, who lives next door, said she saw relatives trying to save the children.
“(The uncle) just kept screaming, ‘Get them out! Get them out!’ It was awful,” she said, crying.
She often saw the children playing outside in their grandparents’ pool, or jumping on their trampoline – now melted in the fire.
The mother of the children is battling cancer, she said.
“It’s heartbreaking,” she said.
First responders, too, were visibly shaken on the scene.
“It’s hard. It’s just difficult to know that two young lives are lost, and it’s a shame. It’s a small community here. It’s hard to even talk to you guys,” Broadwater said.
A Fayette EMS worker stood solemnly beside a neighbor at the end of a snaking line of fire trucks, ambulances and state police vehicles. Another woman held a baby boy, pointing out the fire trucks for the child.
State police were called to investigate at about 6 a.m. when they learned the children were trapped inside. Members of the state police crime unit were also on the scene.
The children attended the Laurel Highlands School District, according to Superintendent Dr. Jesse Wallace.
“I don’t know how to feel from this. It’s a tragic loss. I can’t understand as a parent or a grandparent how to deal with this,” he said. “We are saddened, and we are here to help the family any way we can.”
A crisis intervention team, including additional counselors and psychologists, were at the school Tuesday, and will remain until at least Wednesday. A letter was sent to parents and guardians, Wallace said.
Autopsies were performed Tuesday, according to the coroner’s office. Additional tests, including toxicology and carbon monoxide tests, will be used to determine the cause of death. Those results will not be immediately available.
Officials cleared the scene at about 10 a.m.
An American Red Cross team provided four adults and two other children in the home with immediate assistance and lodging, according to Dan Tobin, the regional office’s communications director.
A fundraiser was set up through GoFundMe for the family, which raised nearly $3,600 of its $10,000 goal within three hours. Shienna Ross, who organized the fundraiser, described the children as “two young babies awaiting the next day to go to school and laugh and play with their friends, anticipating running home and playing with their toys Santa brought them, or just to see the smiling face of their mother fighting her own battle with cancer.”
Donations can be made through https://www.gofundme.com/f/young-innocent-lives-lost-in-early-morning-fire. The fundraiser was verified by a GoFundMe official.