Pa. community mourns loss of 10 in house fire

Funeral services are scheduled for this afternoon.

BROCKWAY, Pa. (AP) — Five closed coffins adorned with photographs and flowers were lined end to end across the front of a high school auditorium Sunday as visitors mourned the 10 victims of a house fire last week.

Under a warm spring sun that beamed through a partly cloudy sky, several hundred people waited on a slowly moving line that snaked at least 700 feet around Brockway High School.

Inside, Douglas Peterson Jr., who lost his wife, five children and three grandchildren in the blaze, greeted visitors — many of them crying — with handshakes and hugs before they slowly filed past the coffins.

“It’s hard to fathom the outpouring of support,” said William Hrinia, mayor of the borough for the last seven years, as he gestured toward the end of the line outside.

Visitors began arriving at least a half-hour early before doors of the 800-seat auditorium were scheduled to open at 2 p.m. for the first set of calling hours. Volunteers drove to a side entrance with donations of food and drinks for the family.

“This has always been an area where we rally around people in need,” school superintendent Stephen Zarlinski said of the close-knit community of 2,100 as he watched the procession.

Authorities have said it may be at least a week until they determine the cause of the April 3 fire, though it is not considered suspicious. State police investigators have said the probe is concentrating on a first-floor living room, where the fire appears to have started.

Gas service had been shut off to the property since 2005, and space heaters were being used inside the house.

Brockway Fire Chief Chris Benson offered no new details about the investigation on the first of two days reserved for mourning. Funeral services are scheduled for today.

“It’s a pretty somber feeling. Brockway is usually pretty active on weekends, kids running around, the parks are full,” he said. “The streets are empty today.”

There are five coffins because some of the victims, who included mothers and young children, will be buried together.

Peterson’s 40-year-old wife, Kimberly, a homemaker who was active with her church, died in the blaze. Also among the dead were three of the Petersons’ daughters: Becky, 17; Grace, 6 and Lillian, 11 months; and two sons: Douglas III, 13; and Isaac, 8.

Other victims included Becky Peterson’s daughter, Cailyn Watson, 4 months; Dominic DeLullo, 4, and his sister, Desiree, 2; and family friend Jason Mowry, 19. The DeLullos were the children of Elizabeth Peterson, 20, who escaped the fire, as did 11-year-old James Peterson. Douglas Peterson Jr. had been at work at his third-shift job at the time.

New details about some of the victims emerged Sunday from their obituaries.

Isaac was an avid fan of comic book heroes Spiderman and Batman and loved wrestling. Becky, who was engaged, was a junior studying cosmetology at a vocational school in Reynoldsville. Douglas III was a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pittsburgh Penguins and NASCAR, especially driver Jeff Gordon.

The father and the children who escaped are staying with Peterson’s father, Douglas Peterson Sr., a retired volunteer firefighter. Douglas Jr. also has another grown daughter who had recently moved out of the house.

Teddy bears, balloons and flowers sit on the concrete steps leading to the remains of the home, which is barricaded by yellow police tape.

Flowers also surrounded the coffins in the auditorium, but there were no photographs inside and the family did not plan to make any statements.

Among those in the community especially taking the tragedy hard are teachers who had Mowry and many of the Peterson kids as pupils.

“I’m really worried about them,” elementary school principal Amy Glasl said. “They’re not doing well.”

Benson and his volunteer firefighters planned to visit with the Peterson family in a private session Sunday evening.