The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

A house fire killed a father and two sons. Christmas tree lights may have been the cause.

A definitive cause of the fire in Quakertown, Pa., will be difficult to determine because of the state of the house, the fire marshal said. (iStock)

The fire started in the early hours of Christmas Day, while the family of five was asleep, and soon engulfed their two-story house. By the time firefighters managed to extinguish it, much of the property had been reduced to a blackened shell.

Only two in the family escaped. Kristin King and son Brady, 13, were treated for minor injuries at a hospital and then released. But King’s husband, Eric, and younger sons, Patrick, 8, and Liam, 11, died in the blaze, officials said.

It may have been ignited, authorities said, by lights on the family’s Christmas tree — a holiday tragedy that shook residents of Quakertown, the Pennsylvania borough of 9,000 that the Kings called home.

“Eric and Kristin were high school sweethearts and the happiest people you will have ever met,” read the description of a GoFundMe that had raised more than $500,000 as of Sunday. “They were always smiling and full of positive spirits, you just couldn’t help but to love them.”

It added: “The Quakertown community will be deeply impacted by this great loss.”

The inferno that tore through the house sparked around 1:20 a.m. Saturday near the live Christmas tree, Fire Marshal Douglas Wilhelm told The Washington Post. Dried out, a tree can become a fire hazard, able to rapidly go up in flames that then spread through a home.

An ill-kept Christmas tree can kill. Here’s how to prevent a holiday disaster.

A 15-foot Fraser fir was the tinder in one of Maryland’s deadliest fires, a 2015 blaze that burned through the Annapolis mansion of Don and Sandra Pyle. An electrical outlet powering the tree’s lights overheated, an investigation concluded, igniting its skirt. The couple and four of their grandchildren were killed in what one fire department official called a “horrendous” sequence of events.

Such fires are unusual but, when they occur, are more likely to be serious, according to the National Fire Protection Association. U.S. fire departments responded to an average of 160 home fires per year involving Christmas trees between 2015 and 2019, leading to an average of two deaths and 12 injuries annually, the association said. The group calls for watering trees daily, keeping heat sources at least three feet away and turning string lights off before bed.

In the Quakertown fire, the fire marshal said a definitive cause will be difficult to determine because of the state of the house.

“There’s nothing left,” Wilhelm said.

Footage from early Saturday, shared by local media outlets, showed the fire consuming the Kings’ side of the double home. The home was enveloped in fire, flames shooting up toward the dark sky.

A relative told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Liam woke his mother and brother up, telling them there was a fire and they needed to get out.

Firefighters arrived at a dangerous scene and struggled to get inside the house, CNN reported. They got the flames under control in about an hour. Inside, they recovered the bodies of the father and two sons. The mother and oldest son were treated for minor burns and smoke inhalation and discharged within a couple of hours, Wilhelm said.

He said the loss “hits home” for the firefighters, many of whom have children.

The family was deeply involved in baseball, with the dad a coach and sons players in the Quakertown Youth Baseball Association.

The group’s president, Michael Bianco, told The Post that Eric King “had an infectious personality — very fun-loving. Loved to laugh.” He had been coaching baseball for about eight years, and several times people requested him specifically. He was committed to ensuring the kids had fun, “because if they’re not enjoying it, why do it?”

Bianco was up late wrapping Christmas presents when he first heard of the fire. He went to sleep without knowing whose home it was, then woke up to text messages with the news.

“It felt like you were just in a fog all day,” Bianco said. “And with it being Christmas, you don’t want to bring everybody else down, so you were basically trying to make it through yesterday.”

Quakertown Community School District Superintendent Bill Harner said in a letter on the district’s website that the news was “devastating for the District community and the Quakertown area at large” and said support would be made available to students. He described the King family as “the kind of people who make this a special place to live and attend school.”

“We are truly blessed to be a part of a wonderful community that is rich with faith, hope and love,” Harner wrote. “It is certainly a day to remember these blessings and time to hold close those we love.”

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