BELLE VERNON, Pa. (AP) - Authorities say an early morning fire claimed the lives of an elderly man and a woman in western Pennsylvania who officials say were parents of a firefighter in one of the companies battling the blaze.
Officials in Westmoreland County say the flames were reported at about 2 a.m. Sunday in a home in the village of Collinsburg in Rostraver Township.
The Collinsburg fire chief said a man and woman were trapped inside the home that was fully engulfed in flames when fire crews arrived. Chief Joel Koricich said a neighbor tried to rescue the victims but couldn’t reach them due to the intense fire.
The Westmoreland County coroner’s office said Sunday 83-year-old Lloyd Oblak and 81-year-old Marie Oblak were pronounced dead at the scene. Autopsies are planned, but rulings on the cause and manner of death aren’t expected until toxicology results are available in several weeks.
The coroner said the rulings will also depend on determination of the cause of the fire, which a state police fire marshal is investigating.
Koricich said the victims were the parents of one of the department’s firefighters. A dog also died in the fire.
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