4 children, father killed in Jeannette, Pa house fire, mother, 2 other children rescued

A Western Pennsylvania community is in mourning as fire officials continue to investigate the cause of a fire that collapsed a home in Jeannette killing four young children and their father this week.

The blaze broke out about midnight Wednesday at a two-story home, City of Jeannette Fire Department officials said. The house where the tragic fire took place is in Westmoreland County about 30 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

Five of eight family members who lived in the home died, a fire spokesperson told USA TODAY, and two other children and their mother were rescued by a neighbor and first responders.

The mother and her surviving children were taken to a hospital to be treated for injuries including smoke inhalation, officials said.

Jeannette house fire: Father and children killed identified

Westmoreland County Coroner Tim Carson identified the victims as Tyler King, 27; Kyson John, 7; Kinzleigh John, 6; Keagan John, 3 and 1-month-old Korbyn John, the spokesperson confirmed.

All five victims were pronounced dead at the scene, Carson said, and their cause and manner of deaths were pending autopsy results and toxicology tests on Friday.

The surviving siblings, ages 1 and 10, and their mother − King's fiancée − continued to recover on Friday.

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'House was already collapsing'

"We ask that you keep all those effected in your thoughts," officials wrote in a letter sent to the city's residents Friday signed by officials including Jeanette's fire Chief Bill Frye.

Frye said a fire hydrant near the house did not provide enough water to fight the flames and the fire spread to another home, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.

“By the point we got water, the main house was already collapsing," Frye told the outlet.

USA TODAY left a message for Frye on Friday.

A neighbor to the rescue

Jack Mull, who lives next to the home where the fatal fire took place, told KDKA-TV he saw the front porch of the house on fire, told his daughter to dial 911, and ran to the home but could not enter it due to flames.

“You could see in the window, the flames were like walking and they were just going straight through the house and moved upstairs,” he told the television station.

Mull said he got a ladder, saw the children's mother on the roof of the home with a baby and climbed the ladder and worked with an officer who arrived on scene to get the pair down along with the 10-year-old boy, the outlet reported.

He said the mother attempted to go back in the home to rescue her other children but could not because the fire was so intense.

“I mean, it was her kids in there," he told the outlet. "They’re very good parents... It’s a shame. That family will never be the same again.”

'A loving, family man'

King’s mother, Delena Lewis, called her son "a loving, family man" and said her grandchildren loved to play outside, the Tribune-Review reported.

“My son was a very hard worker, and he changed his life whenever he had his kids," she told the outlet. "They loved being around their mom and dad."

The cause and origin of the fire remained under investigation on Friday by the Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshals Office as well as other agencies including Jeanette Police.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.