Update
Lebanon city officials report four victims, two of whom were children and one a teen, were found dead after crews battled a duplex fire that affected another six residents Sept. 28. Click here for the latest.
Reported earlier
Lebanon fire departments are conducting search and recovery efforts for possibly two victims after battling a duplex fire that affected another six residents Sept. 28.
At 8:43 a.m., Lebanon City fire crews were dispatched to 815 Church St. for a multiple dwelling fire with entrapment. Lebanon Fire Chief Aaron “A.J.” Sweitzer said crews found heavy fire and smoke coming from the building.
“When we arrived, we placed three in-lines in service and began fire suppression and search of those reported entrapped,” he said. “During the first initial fire suppressions, we brought out three patients and they were transported to the local hospital. Conditions are unknown at this time.”
Three more residents exited the duplex at the time of dispatch on their own before the fire department arrived, according to Sweitzer. The identities of those involved have not been released by officials as of Sunday morning.
Several residents told the Lebanon Daily News that they could see smoke and flames billowing out of the duplex before fire crews arrived on scene. Officials were not able to say what might have started the blaze.
“We had to pull back from the building due to fire conditions becoming very uninhabitable for us,” Sweitzer said. “We pulled out, and then we applied matching streams to the structure for about 15 (to) 20 minutes until we regained control of the situation. Then we went back in there and did more fire suppression, and searched for two more possible victims.”
Fire crews were still conducting recovery efforts for those two victims as of Sunday morning. Sweitzer said he did not have any information about them when speaking to media outlets.
Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshals were called to the scene, with the cause of the fire still undetermined. No fire crews were injured battling the blaze.
Lebanon Mayor Sherry Capello said another resident, who was not involved with the fire, collapsed on the sidewalk during the time of the incident. She was taken to Penn State Health Hershey Medical Center.
“Our hearts and our prayers have gone out to, and continue to go out to the families involved in this horrific incident,” she said. “This is really a tragedy.”
Capello added that the American Red Cross and Salvation Army were on the scene to support the residents.
“Right now, we’re focused on search and recovery, (and) just getting answers ourselves and trying to determine the next step,” she said. “But of course we are going to be thinking of them and what we are going to do to ease their burden and help them at their time of need.”
It is more than a year since a 1-year-old child was killed in a house fire Sept. 13. on Brandywine Street.
Sweitzer said it’s a process for fire crews to go into these situations, and work together as a team to support each other after dealing with these types of fire calls.
“The guys and girls did a hell of a job today in their efforts with the minimal manpower that every fire department experiences,” Sweirtzer said. “So hats off to them, guys and girls that were able to keep this in check because at the start of this fire, the condition and loads were very, very extreme.”
Matthew Toth is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at mtoth@ldnews.com or on X at @DAMattToth.
