Stove eyed as cause of fire that killed woman and 2 kids

May 10, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa.

A wood-stove fire inside an Amish family’s home apparently started a fire that killed a mother and her two young daughters, authorities said.

Katie Kurtz, 31, and her daughters, 3-year-old Anna and 8-year-old Sally, died in the blaze reported about 12:30 p.m. Saturday on Route 208, near New Wilmington, which a state fire marshal has ruled accidental, state police in New Castle said.

“Apparently, they were trying to start a wood-burning stove inside the kitchen,” Trooper Troy Steinheiser said. “It’s in there, and in adjacent rooms, that we found the bodies.”

Father Levi Kurtz had been away fishing at Shenango Lake in Mercer County, and two teenage nephews who live in the home also were not there when the fire started, police said.

Word of the tragedy spread slowly, since few Amish families use phones. Daniel Byler, 14, a relative of the victims, walked through the rain from farmhouse to farmhouse to relate the story.

“Everyone else [in the family] is still down at the house, so I volunteered to do this,” said Daniel, dressed in traditional Amish clothing with a straw hat, a blue cotton coat with clasps rather than buttons, and knee-high black leather boots.

Amish neighbors hitched their buggies to a white wooden fence during the early evening as the community gathered to mourn the victims. One asked that reporters not speak to family members.

“They’re just now dealing with the grief of what happened,” Steinheiser said. “I know they’re a tight-knit group. As far as how they will deal with this tragedy, I’m just not sure.”

A passing motorist used a cell phone to call 911, but the motorist and a neighbor were unable to get into the house due to heavy smoke, Steinheiser said. New Wilmington Fire Chief Gary Wagner said firefighters were able to contain the blaze to the kitchen.

“It’s hard on the guys, especially when they found the victims. One of those guys just had a child himself,” Wagner said.

Delphine Lord, who lives across the street from the Kurtz family, said she was heartbroken about the tragedy.

“I will always remember them,” she said. “Sally was an adorable child. She had a little, red wagon that she would pull up and down the [driveway] to get the mail.”

Funeral arrangements, which are incomplete, will be handled by Smith Funeral Home in New Wilmington.