What to Know
- A house fire left a Quakertown man and two of his sons dead early on Christmas morning.
- Eric King and his children, Liam and Patrick, died in the fire, the Quakertown School District said.
- The man's wife and their eldest child were injured while escaping the fire.
A Christmas morning fire tore through a Bucks County family's home, killing a father and two of his school-aged children and leaving their Quakertown community grieving.
The blaze was reported around 1:20 a.m. Saturday along Essex Court in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. The twin home was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, an official with the Bucks County Fire Marshal’s Office said.
Bucks County Coroner Meredith Buck said 41-year-old Eric King and two children were found deceased.
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The boys attended Richland Elementary School, according to a post on the Quakertown School District's website. The school district identified the children who died as Liam, a fifth-grader, and Patrick, a third-grader.
The mother and her 13-year-old child escaped the fire and were treated at the hospital for burns and smoke inhalation, the official said.
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"This news is devastating for the District community and the Quakertown area at large," the district said. "Eric and Kristin are very active in the community, and the kind of people who make this a special place to live and attend school. The School District sends its heartfelt sympathy to the King family and their many friends and relatives."
Firefighters managed to get the fire under control around 2:30 p.m.
The blaze left the King home badly damaged.
The fire appeared to begin in the area around the family's Christmas tree and its lighting, the official said. The investigation into the official cause of the deadly fire, however, continued.
A neighboring home was also damaged by the fire, but everyone made it out of that home OK.
The school district was in the process of setting up a hotline to support the grieving community.
