Fire That Killed Baby Girl Started in Adjoining Home
(Reading, PA) -- State Investigators working in Cumru Township say the fire that killed a one-year-old girl Saturday likely started as the result of an electrical problem in an adjoining home. Lieutenant George Kuriger Junior says that when officers arrived on the scene of the three-alarm fire Saturday morning at 715 Philadelphia Avenue, the father of the children who lived next door at 717 told responders he was able to get both of his older children off the third floor but couldn't go back to get his daughter from her crib. First responders also tried to save her but heavy smoke and falling debris made access impossible. An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday night in Reading to determine the official cause and manner of the infant's death. No one else was injured. Four homes were damaged overall.