1985 — July 23, Fire, Thomas Guest Home, Sweet Valley, PA — 10
— 10 PA Gen. Assembly. The Feasibility of Retrofitting High Rises, College Dorms…, 2001.
– 10 Times Leader (Filaroski), PA. “Death at Rest Home Probed by The State.” 4-20-1993.
Narrative Information
PA General Assembly: “The wood-frame building had a central two-story area and two one-story wings. A common gathering area, a kitchen and three guest rooms were on the first floor of the core area, and the owner’s apartment was located on the second floor. One wing had five resident rooms and the other wing had three resident rooms… The building was equipped with a combination smoke and heat detection system and manual pull stations were also provided. The activation of any detector or manual pull station would initiate a local alarm only. There was no automatic sprinkler system…
“A neighbor heard screams coming from the facility and called the fire department. Arriving firefighters found that the fire had vented to the outside and involved the first floor common area
and kitchen areas. Smoke and heat spread into the exit access corridors for both first-floor wings and blocked the exits for the second floor. The four second-floor residents were able to escape. However, all six residents on one sing and four out of six residents on the second wing died. The fire was considered suspicious and the fire detection system did not operate properly during the fire. Contributing Factors
- Lack of an automatic sprinkler system
- Improper operation of the fire detection system.”
(PA Gen. Assembly. The Feasibility of Retrofitting High Rises, College Dorms…, 2001, p. 40.)
Times Leader: “….Colonial Estates, formerly called Thomas Guest Home under previous ownership, was the site of a fire seven years ago that killed 10 people and cast blame on then-owner Ronald Thomas. Investigators determined that the facility’s doors could not be opened from the inside without keys, but authorities failed to gather enough evidence to proceed with reckless endangerment charges against Thomas.” (Times Leader (P. Douglas Filaroski), Wilkes-Barre, PA. “Death at Rest Home Probed by The State.” 4-20-1993.)
Sources
Pennsylvania General Assembly, Legislative Budget and Finance Committee. The Feasibility of Retrofitting High Rises, College Dorms, and Certain Other Buildings With Fire Sprinklers, Volume II (A Report in Response to Senate Resolution 132). Harrisburg, PA: PA General Assembly, 1-18-2001. Accessed at: http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:KBzYm2dK2qIJ:lbfc.legis.state.pa.us/reports/2001/224.PDF+Fire,+Boarding+Home,+Connellsville,+PA+April+1+1979&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Times Leader (P. Douglas Filaroski), Wilkes-Barre, PA. “Death at Rest Home Probed by The State.” 4-20-1993. Accessed 1-26-2017 at: http://archives.timesleader.com/1993_5/1993_04_20_DEATH_AT_REST_HOME_PROBED_BY_THE_STATE_PATIENT_DIED_FROM_RESTRAI.html