By
Associated Press
A fire that quickly consumed a Pennsylvania home early Friday left seven adults and three children dead and one of the firefighters was horrified to discover the victims were his own relatives, authorities said.
The children who died were 5, 6 and 7 years old, the Pennsylvania State Police said in a news release.
A criminal investigation into the fire is ongoing.
Harold Baker, a volunteer firefighter with the Nescopeck Volunteer Fire Co., told the
Wilkes-Barre
Citizens' Voice newspaper that
the 10 victims include his son, daughter, father-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, three grandchildren and two other relatives.
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Baker also told local television station WNEP-TV that there were 13 dogs in the home, but did not specify if any survived.
The Nescopeck fire was reported around 2:30 am.
One person was found dead inside the single-family home shortly after emergency services arrived, while two other victims were found later in the morning.
Some people were able to safely flee the burning house, authorities said.
14 people lived in the house
The volunteer firefighter said that when his brigade received the emergency call, the address he initially received for it was that of a neighboring house.
He realized that it was his family's residence when the fire truck arrived at the scene.
“When we turned the corner here on Dewey (street name) I immediately knew which house it was just by looking down the street,” Baker told
Citizens' Voice
.
"When we stopped, the whole place was completely engulfed in flames."
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Neighbors reported hearing a loud bang or explosion before seeing the front porch of the home quickly consumed by flames.
Some also reported hearing a young man yell in front of the house: "They're all dead."
Baker, who
was relieved of his duties as a firefighter because of his relationship with the victims
, said 14 people lived in the home.
One of them was delivering newspapers at the time of the fire and others were able to escape, he said.
“The children that were there and my two children were visiting their uncles,” Baker told WNEP.
“They were the owners of the house.
They were there visiting and swimming in the pool and all that.”
Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Derek Felsman said police are interviewing survivors as part of a "deep criminal investigation" into what happened.