Careless smoking is blamed for a house fire Monday in West Manheim Township that killed a four-year-old boy and an adult.
Pleasant Hille Assistant Fire Chief Ted Clousher said it appears the 79-year-old victim was smoking inside the garage when the cigarette caused two oxygen tanks to explode, WPMT reported.
The child was trapped inside a bedroom. "They basically made the window into a door. They took saws, cut straight down, pulled it out, and the crews went in.”
Those firefighters administered CPR before the child was rushed to a hospital in Hanover. But he did not survive.
"It's always worse when you work on a child," Clousher said.
Another person in the house suffered burns while two others were not hurt.
Three firefighters suffered smoke inhalation.
"It's an accident that really shouldn't have happened. We keep telling people, be careful with smoking in the house, that kind of stuff. We keep telling people, they don't listen. If you're going to smoke, smoke outside. I'd rather fight a woods fire than a house fire."
