Family seeking answers three years after fire killed 10 people

NESCOPECK, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — It’s been three years since ten people, including three young children, died in a fire in Luzerne County. Three years later, families of the victims say they are still seeking answers as to what started the fire in Nescopeck.

Cell phone video taken by a neighbor shows an inferno that erupted at a home on First Street in Nescopeck in the early morning hours of August 5, 2022. 10 people were killed.

Harold Baker lost his adult son and daughter in the fire, and three grandchildren, ages five, six, and seven. He is now the fire chief of the Nescopeck Volunteer Fire Company. He was one of the first firefighters to respond to the 911 call. He only learned that the home was where his family was when he arrived on scene.

“One of our guys grabbed the hose went to the front. Went to the back started fighting it, but then they yanked me out of it. Yep, because I kept trying to get in and I couldn’t get in,” Baker said.

Neighbors told 28/22 News on the morning of the fire and again Thursday that they heard what sounded like gunshots in the early moments of the fire. They also said they saw what appeared to be a fire line leading from the front porch to the street, as if an accelerant was used. Baker insists it was arson.

“In all of our hearts, we know it was arson. And we know, to us in our mind who did it. We can’t prove nothing so we can’t really get him for doing anything,” Baker explained.

Richard Powlus lives right next door to the fire scene, which is now a grassy field. “Well it’s always on my mind. I remember coming out on my porch seeing the fire. I can still see it right now, as the window blew out. But it fades. But the realization that ten people died there, that’s the difficult thing,” Powlus said.

The state police have not ruled on the cause of the fire, only said that the investigation is ongoing.