Two girls died as a result of injuries they suffered in a house fire at 630 Detweiler Avenue early Friday morning, Hellertown Police have confirmed. Police and fire investigators remained at the scene of the blaze at 10 a.m., as they continue to investigate it.
A house fire on Linden Avenue in Hellertown borough has claimed the lives of two girls who lived in the home and were trapped when the blaze erupted early Friday morning.
In a news release that did not identify the girls by name, Hellertown Police said the 10-year-old and 15-year-old were trapped on the home’s second floor when police were dispatched and arrived at the fire scene shortly before 1 a.m.
Police said officers arrived to find the home at 630 Linden Avenue “engulfed in flames.”
Two adult residents of the home–a 36-year-old man and a 42-year-old woman–were able to exit the home before firefighters arrived and rescued the girls from the second floor, the news release said.
They were then taken to St. Luke’s University Hospital and Lehigh Valley Hospital, where “despite all efforts, both juvenile females were unable to survive their injuries,” police said.
Earlier reports indicated that the adults and two police officers were also injured in the fire.
The cause of the two-alarm fire remains under investigation by the Hellertown Police Department, the Dewey Fire Company Fire Marshal and the Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshal.
Hellertown Police said more information would be released when it becomes available.
Donate to Help the Fire Victims
Although the police news release did not identify the victims of the fire, neighbors and friends have identified them as the Kaufman family.
A GoFundMe campaign established on their behalf by a neighbor had raised nearly $9,000 by around 10 a.m. Friday, and the Edward H. Ackerman American Legion Post 397 as well as businesses in Hellertown were also collecting donations for the family.
State and local fire marshals were on the scene of a fatal fire in Hellertown borough Friday morning.
Caution tape surrounded the gutted home at Linden and New York avenues in Hellertown, as officials work to determine what may have caused a fire in it that claimed the lives of two girls.
