Three Scranton residents died early Tuesday morning when flames ripped through their Lawall Street home, which did not have smoke or fire alarms, Scranton Fire Chief Tom Davis said.
"If they did, they'd all be alive," Chief Davis said of the alarms. "They'd be waiting on the front porch to tell us there was a fire in the building."
A neighbor reported the fire at 352 Lawall St. at 12:53 a.m. after Darrell Fratamico, a four-year veteran of the city's Fire Department who was recently laid off, noticed smoke coming from the building and notified him, Chief Davis said.
Mr. Fratamico and the resident next door at 354 Lawall St. pulled a garden hose over a hedge to the front yard of 352 Lawall St. and sprayed the burning home until the Scranton Fire Department's Engine 4 arrived on the scene in about two minutes and 30 seconds, Chief Davis said.
Those first firefighters on the scene found smoke and flames already gushing from the home's windows, Chief Davis said.
"It was coming out of everything," Chief Davis said. "It was an inferno; it was out of control."
Firefighters first entered through the home's back door and found JoAnne Yourkowski, 80, lying on the kitchen floor.
Ms. Yourkowski was removed from the home and transported to Community Medical Center where she was pronounced dead at 1:33 a.m., Lackawanna County Coroner Tim Rowland said.
Firefighters coming through the home's front door next found Verne Dittfield, 57, at the base of a staircase, showing no signs of life, while his wife, Jewel Dittfield, 55, was discovered in a bed upstairs, Chief Davis said. She also did not show any signs of life.
Mr. and Mrs. Dittfield were pronounced dead at the scene by Mr. Rowland. Autopsies Tuesday found all three victims died from carbon monoxide poisoning due to smoke inhalation, Mr. Rowland said. All three deaths were ruled accidental, Mr. Rowland said.
Chief Davis said the four crews that responded to the two-alarm fire had the blaze under control by 1:23 a.m. and completely extinguished shortly before 2 a.m.
Dozens of relatives of the three victims huddled outside the home as fire inspectors picked through the charred remains of the first floor's front room as the smell of smoke drifted through the falling rain more than 12 hours after the fire was put out.
Investigators believe the fire began in that room, and while the cause was undetermined Tuesday, did not appear criminal in nature.
Dave Rohlic, who lives two doors down at 356 Lawall St., remembered his longtime friend and neighbor, Mr. Dittfield, a former lieutenant at the Lackawanna County Prison, his wife and mother-in-law as "good people."
"He was an easy-going guy," Mr. Rohlic said. "It was a surprise."
While the fire "gutted the inside of the house," Chief Davis said, it did not cause very significant damage to the home's exterior except for broken windows and slight melting of the smoke-stained siding surrounding the windows.
"It was just that it was smoke and heat and anyone without masks or equipment couldn't handle that," Chief Davis said.
The home at 354 Lawall St., which sits no more than eight feet from the burned home next door, showed almost no sign of damage caused by the smoke and flames that gutted 352 Lawall St.
Chief Davis said fire inspectors would return to the home today to determine what caused the fire.
"The sad part of the whole thing," Chief Davis said. "(The neighbor) said he didn't hear anything as far as fire alarms are concerned."
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
