US

Family Of 3 Tragically Killed In House Fire

(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Bradley Devlin General Assignment & Analysis Reporter
Font Size:

A Pennsylvania family perished in a house fire Monday after responders struggled to extinguish the flames, according to local outlet WPVI.

The family, consisting of a mother, father, and 14-year-old son, died in the blaze early Monday morning that engulfed their Pottstown, Pennsylvania home, WPVI reported.

A neighbor who noticed the blaze alerted a nearby police officer, and first responders were dispatched to attempt to put out the blaze and save the family, according to WPVI. While firefighters were unable to save the family of three, they were able to save the family living in a house conjoined to the one that initially caught fire, WPVI noted.

Christopher Azukas, a neighbor, told WPVI, “From our window of our house I could see some flames coming out of there, but there was a lot of smoke. There was a lot of smoke.”

Azukas’ daughter was the one who initially saw the fire and alerted the police officer, Azukas told WPVI. “She just ran out and flagged him down and said that there was a fire going on in that house over there,” he said. (RELATED: ICU Nurse Speeds Home From Work To Find Her House On Fire)

The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office has released the identity of the father and mother, 48-year-old Joseph Norton and 47-year-old Bernadette Norton, respectively, according to WPVI. The teenager’s identity has not been released. The coroner’s office confirmed the father was pronounced dead at Pottstown Hospital from smoke and soot inhalation, WPVI reported.

The investigation into the Pottstown home blaze remains ongoing, and authorities claim they have an idea of how the fire began, but are not ready to release that information yet, WPVI reported. Investigators claimed that it appears the home did not have any functioning smoke detectors, WPVI noted.