{"id":171114,"date":"2026-04-20T20:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T20:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/171114\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T20:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T20:00:08","slug":"devastating-reason-dad-of-6-was-sole-survivor-of-of-pennsylvania-house-explosion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/171114\/","title":{"rendered":"Devastating reason dad of 6 was sole survivor of of Pennsylvania house explosion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Pennsylvania mom and six kids killed in a devastating weekend house fire were Amish \u2014 with only the family\u2019s dad surviving only because he was away at the time.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly the entire Stolzfus family was wiped out after a blaze ripped through their home in Lamar Township \u2014 about 30 miles north of State College \u2014 around 8:30 a.m. Sunday.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.81933594;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39144101\" width=\"483\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/video-shows-scene-amish-family-126039350.jpg\" alt=\"A firefighter stands before a house engulfed in flames after an explosion.\" class=\"wp-image-39144101\"  \/>A mother and her six children were killed in a Pennsylvania home explosion on Sunday. WTAJ<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.72681282;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39144051\" width=\"1019\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/photo-made-video-wnep-shows-126037336_fba7da.jpg\" alt=\"First responders and firefighters at the scene of a fire and explosion in Lamar Township near Mill Hall, Pennsylvania.\" class=\"wp-image-39144051\"  \/>David F. Stolzfus was not home at the time of the explosion. AP<\/p>\n<p>The house was completely engulfed in flames with the 34-year-old mother, Sarah B. Stolzfus, and her kids aged 2 through 10 trapped inside.<\/p>\n<p>But the family\u2019s father, David F. Stolzfus, was not home at the time and now remains the only member of the family still alive, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/PennLive.com\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">PennLive.com<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p>The blaze is believed to have been caused by a propane explosion, according to state police.<\/p>\n<p>Amish beliefs often bar the use of electricity and other modern technology, but many families find workarounds.<\/p>\n<p>Propane gas is a commonly used for lighting, cooking and other home needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pennsylvania mom and six kids killed in a devastating weekend house fire were Amish \u2014 with only&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[76744,33588,22938,28,30,29,302],"class_list":{"0":"post-171114","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-amish","9":"tag-deaths","10":"tag-explosions","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","13":"tag-pennsylvania-news","14":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}