March 25--LARKSVILLE -- Florence Gosciewski died in the house where she lived all her life, and where she celebrated her marriage to the man who tried desperately to save her.
A fast-moving fire tore through 42 Murray St. early Sunday morning, killing 64-year-old Florence Gosciewski and sending her husband, 70-year-old John Gosciewski, to the hospital with burns he received trying to rescue her from the flames.
The initial call came in about 1:25 a.m. as a "fully involved structure fire with entrapment," Larksville Fire Chief Andy Kachmar said.
Within minutes the first crews arrived, took one look and immediately called in a second alarm, he said.
Fire personnel from Courtdale, Edwardsville, Plymouth and Hanover Township sped to Murray Street to help fight the flames devouring the three-story white house.
"When everybody got on scene, it was just blowing out everywhere," Kachmar said. "It was going really good when I got there."
Gerard and Janice Perfetto watched their neighbor's house burn, horrified. They called 911.
"It was the scariest thing to see, the big orange flames shooting up," Janice Perfetto said.
The Perfettos worried about Florence Gosciewski. They knew she had trouble walking and that John Gosciewski had recently installed a ramp for the back door so she wouldn't have to climb the steep front steps.
But standing on their porch, where they could feel the fire's heat from across the street, they could see things didn't look good for Florence.
"The room where she was was engulfed in flames," Gerard Perfetto said.
The Perfettos and Kachmar said John Gosciewski tried to save his wife, but didn't succeed. He was a mess, blackened with soot and severely burned, when he made it over to the Perfettos' house, they said.
"I didn't have the lights on, so I couldn't see his burns," Gerard Perfetto said. "When I did, I said, oh, my God."
John Gosciewski went by ambulance to Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township, but he had to be transported via Life Flight to the burn unit at Lehigh Valley Hospital Center, Gerard Perfetto said.
Florence perished in the flames, Kachmar said.
Acting Coroner Bill Lisman said there can't be a ruling on the cause or manner of her death until an autopsy, scheduled for 11 a.m. today, is performed.
It took two hours for firefighters to get the blaze under control. The fire was so intense it melted the siding of the house next door.
The Gosciewskis' house is beyond repair, Kachmar said: the roof and attic are gone, the first and second floors are burned out. The veteran firefighter called the fire "one of the worst I've seen in a while."
The state police fire marshal is investigating the cause of the blaze.
Gerard Perfetto grew up down the street from Florence Gosciewski. He said everyone knew everyone else in the quiet residential neighborhood.
The Gosciewskis were married in 1972, after Tropical Storm Agnes riled up the Susquehanna River on June 23. The flood ruined the venue they planned to hold their wedding reception, so they had it in the backyard of their Murray Street house, Gerard Perfetto said.
The Gosciewskis had no children and didn't have much family, Janet Perfetto said.
But they had each other. Kachmar said they were a close couple who did everything together.
When Florence developed difficulty walking, John put in the ramp; although she didn't really need a wheelchair, it made it easier for her, Gerard Perfetto said.
And the Gosciewskis still went out a lot together, to lunch and dinner. Florence had her hair done every week, Janice Perfetto said. She said John Gosciewski was so proud of Florence.
"He worshiped his wife. She was everything to him. It's going to be really hard on him," she said.
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Copyright 2013 - The Citizens' Voice, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
