A devastating explosion and fire claimed seven lives in central Pennsylvania on Sunday morning, leaving investigators searching for answers about what triggered the blast that consumed a Lamar Township home near Mill Hall.
Sarah Stolzfus, 34, and her six children died in the incident. The children ranged from three to eleven years old: four sons ages eleven, ten, five, and three, and two daughters ages eight and six.
Firefighters arrived to find the building already engulfed in flames. State police confirmed that all seven occupants were trapped inside, but the intensity of the fire prevented rescuers from entering the structure to mount a rescue effort.
Investigators have zeroed in on a propane leak inside the home as the likely cause of the explosion. State police emphasized that exterior propane tanks on the property did not rupture and played no role in triggering the blast or subsequent fire.
Christina Duck, who lived nearby, was eating breakfast when the explosion occurred. She described a powerful blast that she felt reverberate through her own home, followed immediately by flames visible through the windows of the Stolzfus residence.
"I heard a boom and I could feel it and I got up and looked out the window and I could see the flames through the windows and I come running outside and within a minute the whole house was completely engulfed," Duck told WNEP-TV.
Duck said the family had moved to the area just a couple of months before the tragedy. She remembered seeing the children playing outside regularly, describing them as a visible part of the neighborhood in that short time.
The cause remains under investigation, with authorities continuing to examine the circumstances surrounding the propane leak that may have ignited inside the home.
Author James Rodriguez: "A propane leak that authorities think caused this disaster should be a wake-up call for every homeowner with gas appliances or heating systems."
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