(This story was updated to add new information.)
A woman died in an Easter Sunday fire that broke out in a modular home in Millcreek Township.
The 79-year-old woman, whose name was not released, was pronounced dead at 3:07 p.m. April 20 following the fire at 4458 S. Park Lane, according to the Erie County Coroner’s Office and the Millcreek Township Police Department.
The woman is the fifth person to die in four house fires in Millcreek Township so far this year. One person also died following a house fire in Erie earlier this month.
What happened in the fire?
Authorities said the fire was reported on April 20 at about 1:50 p.m. Millcreek Township firefighters and members of the Kearsarge, West Lake and West Ridge volunteer departments arrived to find a working fire with smoke and flames visible, Millcreek Fire Chief Michael Cliff said in a statement released after the fire.
Cliff said about 30 firefighters worked to contain the fire, which spread to a neighboring residence and caused significant damage to it. One firefighter suffered minor burns and was treated and released at the scene, he said.
A woman died in a fire that broke out in her residence on South Park Lane in Millcreek Township on April 20.
Crews remained on the scene for several hours. A Pennsylvania State Police fire marshal and an Erie Bureau of Fire fire marshal and the bureau’s dog were called to investigate the cause of the fire along with Millcreek police, authorities reported.
The investigation was ongoing April 21.
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Where were the other fires?
There have been an unusually high number of fatal fires in Erie County so far this year, particularly in Millcreek Township. The other fatal fires in the township occurred:
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On Jan. 23, when 67-year-old Robert Powell died in a fire at his mobile home at 1270 Patlin Court;
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on Feb. 9, when 75-year-old Jerome Wilson and at least one dog died in a fire in his house at 521 Zephyr Ave.;
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on March 9, when 20-year-old Collin Pennell and 19-year-old Stephon Burdette died and two others were injured in a fire at a mobile home at 2730 Ganzer Lane.
The causes of the Patlin Court and Zephyr Avenue fires were ruled as undetermined, and the cause of the Ganzer Lane fire was determined to be careless smoking, according to Millcreek Township police.
An April 2 house fire in Erie turned fatal when a man who was rescued from the burning house later died, authorities reported.
The man, who was said to be between 70 and 80 years old but whose identity has not been released, died at a Pittsburgh hospital following the fire at 723 E. 12th St., according to Erie Bureau of Fire officials. A woman who was also rescued from the home was also taken to a Pittsburgh hospital for treatment, officials reported.
Two dogs and a cat additionally died in the fire, which investigators suspected was caused by careless smoking.
Contact Tim Hahn at [email protected]. Follow him on X @ETNhahn.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Easter Sunday house fire: Woman dies in Millcreek Township blaze
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