Two Brothers Killed in Pennsylvania House Fire

About 12 hours after firefighters tried to save two brothers from their burning home in South Whitehall Township early Wednesday morning, plywood covered the windows and yellow tape surrounded the charred brick house.

Investigators were gone and authorities offered few details about the fast-moving fire that killed Michael Hutchison, 48, and his brother, Russell, 43.

Firefighters pulled them from the second floor of 1920 Walbert Ave. shortly after 3 a.m. and rushed them to Lehigh Valley-Hospital-Cedar Crest, where they died from smoke inhalation, Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim said.

Russell Hutchison was pronounced dead at 3:41 a.m.; his brother died about 10 minutes later.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation by South Whitehall police, Woodlawn Fire Department and a state police fire marshal said.

Grim said until the fire investigation and toxicology tests are completed, the manner of deaths are pending. Woodlawn Fire Chief Rusty Held declined to comment.

The fire was reported around 2:45 a.m. and when firefighters arrived, they radioed that heavy smoke was showing and people might be inside, according to emergency radio reports.

Kelli Galarza, who lives next door, said she awoke around 3 a.m. to a man pounding on her front door, yelling about a fire.

Galarza said the man told her that he had been driving home from work when he saw smoke drifting from a second-floor air conditioner at the Hutchisons' home. He called 911 and yelled for other neighbors to get out.

"He said he wanted to make sure we had gotten out OK," Galarza said. "I feel so blessed by everyone's efforts in this to try to help as many people as possible."

Galarza said she saw heavy smoke drifting from the home and when firefighters broke in the back door, flames shot outside.

"The firefighters really worked hard and it was just awful to see them bringing two bodies outside," she said. "Very sad."

Galarza and another neighbor, Arlene Frankenfield, said they thought only one man and his dog were living in the home and had moved in a few months ago.

Frankenfield said the house was undergoing renovation and a man who walked the dog wanted the home, built in 1924, to be brought back to its original state.

She said the dog, a husky that often curled up and napped on the back porch, was doted on.

"I would wave when I would see him walking that dog," Frankenfield said. "The dog was really beautiful and you could tell he was well loved."

The neighbors said the dog also died in the blaze.

The fire is not the only recent one in the neighborhood. The Hutchisons' home is next door to the former Charlie Brown's Steakhouse, which was severely damaged in an early-morning fire in October. The restaurant had been closed and boarded up prior to the fire.

Frankenfield said debris from that fire remains littered around the parking lot.

"It's a little disconcerting that we've now seen two fires here," she said.

The fire was declared under control around 5 a.m.

According to an obituary published in The Morning Call in August, the Hutchison brothers were sons of the late Robert L. and Jane A. (Rhodes) Hutchison.

Lehigh County tax records list the owners of the property as Robert Inselmann and Barbara Harkins of South Whitehall. Neither could be reached for comment Wednesday.

Most neighbors around the Hutchisons' home said they didn't know the men who lived there, other than to exchange waves in passing.

At the nearby Orange Blossom Laundromat, Jeremy Smith said he would sometimes see the brothers buying coffee at a convenience store across the street from their home.

As Smith spoke, he motioned to the two buildings, both with boarded-up windows and charred pieces of plastic and glass scattered outside.

"It's sad to see that in your neighborhood," he said. "People have been driving by here all day and you can see them just shaking their heads."

McClatchy-Tribune News Service