After Raging Doylestown House Fire, Man Found Dead In Home

BUCKINGHAM, PA — After firefighters spent two hours beating back a blaze at a Buckingham home early Sunday morning, a man was found dead inside. The Bucks County District Attorney's Office said officials will announce homicide charges in the case Monday afternoon.

Multiple people called just after 3 a.m. about the house fire after being awakened by screams, according to Emergency Alerts of Southeastern Pennsylvania and the Buckingham Township Police Department. The Bucks County District Attorney's Office said the fire took place on the 5700 block of Private Road.

Buckingham Township Police arrived on scene and confirmed a working fire, the emergency alerts system reported. One resident told police that another man living there was unable to escape the home.

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Midway Volunteer Fire Company Chief Hugh Hager reported heavy fire through the roof of the two-story single-family dwelling, and confirmed that someone was trapped inside. Police tried to enter the home, but were kept away due to the high heat and intense flames.

Hager requested additional resources upon arriving on the scene, bringing firefighters from Midway, Doylestown, and other dispatches in Montgomery County and New Jersey to the home with multiple tankers and trucks.

According to Hager, the Midway Volunteer Fire Company found a man dead on the scene within minutes of arriving, entering the building despite dangers posed by high heat and flames. Newcomers to the scene tried to enter the home, but rapidly deteriorating conditions prevented them from doing so.

After two hours, the blaze was brought under control.

They called the Bucks County Coroner's Office to the scene and firefighters, investigators, and the coroner began investigating both the death and the cause of the fire.

Emergency personnel also called for a medical helicopter from Temple University Hospital for someone with burn injuries, though the report was unclear who this was for.

The Midway Volunteer Fire Company said Sunday that there were no less than 2,000 gallons of water on the scene at any given time; a typical engine tank holds between 500 and 750 gallons. Tankers were used to shuttle more water to the scene.

Crews remained on the scene for several hours into Sunday morning, ensuring that all of the hot spots were extinguished before returning back to their stations.

The DA's office plans to release more information about the incident on Monday afternoon.

Editor's note: A prior version of this story reported that the man's body was recovered after two hours of fighting the fire. This was inaccurate; the man's body was recovered shortly after arrival, according to Hugh Hager of the Midway Volunteer Fire Company. Patch regrets the error.

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