April 24, 2026/Midnight

Erie, PA. – The Amish community is in mourning after seven people were killed in a housefire explosion in Clinton County, Pa. A fire that sparked Sunday morning killed a mother and her six children. Sarah Stolzfous, age 34, and her six children, four sons, aged 11, 10, 5 and 3, and two daughters, ages 8 and 6 were unable to make it out of the home after the fire started.

The Clinton County Emergency Management Director told WNEP-16, 17 first responder crews rushed to the scene on Long Run Road in Lamar Township around 8:30 a.m. Upon arrival, the house was fully engulfed in flames. Pennsylvania State Police reported that a search for the victims was not possible because of the rapid ignition of the home.

The fire is still under investigation, but first responders believe the fire started because of a propane leak inside the home. Police noted the explosive fire did not come from the exterior propane tanks, as they were still intact.

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The family moved into the home a couple of months before the fire. Neighbors said they always saw the family, with kids playing outside. Neighbor Christina Duck told WNEP-16 she 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.”

Duck lives down the street from the Stoltzfus family. She and her daughter were eating breakfast when the fire started.

“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 immediately called 911, saying it was not long before first responders reached the home. Regardless of their efficiency, there was nothing that could be done for the family or for the home.

Members of the Amish community arrived at the home once it was deemed safe to start cleaning up what was left behind and to pay their respects to the family.