The house that caught fire is completely gone, all that’s left standing are the barn and garages next door.

CLINTON COUNTY, Pa. — It is a devastating scene here on this section of Long Run Road in Lamar Township, near Mill Hall, after state police say seven people were killed. The house that caught fire is completely gone; all that is left standing are the barn and garages next door. 

Troopers identified the victims as Sarah Stoltzfus, 34, and six of her children. The four boys and two girls ranged in age from 11 to 2 years old.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but troopers suspect that it may have started with a propane leak inside the home.

“I didn’t know what the boom was at first because it was odd that it shook the house and living next to a stone quarry. I thought they used to blast over there, and that’s what it reminded me of,” said Christina Duck, neighbor. 

Christina Duck lives down the street from this home on Long Run Road near Mill Hall that caught fire and exploded around 8:30 Sunday morning. She says she and her daughter were eating breakfast when the flames started.

“And I heard a boom, and I could feel it, and I got up and looked out the window, and I could see the flames through the windows, and I come running outside, and within a minute the whole house was completely engulfed,” said Duck. 

Duck says she saw others running down the street, calling 911. She says it wasn’t long until fire crews were here.

“I came back inside because my daughter was in there and we were watching out the window, and emergency personnel started arriving in their personal vehicles, and then the fire trucks started showing up,” said Duck. 

The Clinton County Emergency Management Director says that 17 fire and emergency companies were on scene. Duck says it wasn’t long until much of the house was gone.

“They started calling in extra units, and I believe it was a second-alarm fire. We have a scanner, so I was listening to it on there. By the time they got there, there was no saving that house; it went up so fast,” said Duck. 

 Duck says the family, who lived in the house, had just moved in a couple of months ago. She says the home had been for sale for a while. Duck says she would always see the kids outside playing.

Members of the Amish community arrived earlier to start cleaning up what was left behind, as well as pay respects to the seven who perished in the fire in Clinton County.