Pennsylvania

2nd Girl Dies in Pennsylvania House Fire Being Blamed on Charging Hoverboard

A 3-year-old girl also died in the Harrisburg house fire, and a veteran fire official died after the blaze

A second girl has died following a Pennsylvania house fire being blamed on a hoverboard that ignited while charging.

Savannah Dominick, 10, died Thursday morning at Lehigh Valley Hospital - Cedar Crest about a week after suffering burns on 95 percent of her body during the Friday night fire on Lexington Street in Harrisburg, the Lehigh County Coroner's Office said.

It is the second death linked to a hoverboard fire in the United States, following the death of Ashanti Hughes, 3. She was pronounced dead Saturday morning after the same fire, the coroner's office said.

Harrisburg officials said one victim jumped from a second-floor roof to escape the blaze, which was reported shortly before 8 p.m. Friday. Three others were rescued by ladder. Another girl was listed in critical condition while a man and another occupant of the home, a teenage boy, were treated and released.

Neighbor Crystal Benjamin recalled seeing the row home engulfed in wind-whipped flames and hearing people yelling, "The kids are in the house." She remembered one girl jumping from the second-story roof and another girl climbing out onto the same roof and stuck there, not knowing where to go, until she was rescued by firefighters.

"Just seeing the little girl on the roof, not knowing how to get away," Benjamin said, breaking off as she broke into tears, PennLive.com reported.

Officials say a hoverboard was plugged in and charging before it caught fire. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said this week that Hughes's death is the first fatality resulting from a hoverboard fire.

The blaze remained under investigation Thursday.

A Pennsylvania fire official responding to the fire also died. Lt. Dennis DeVoe, a 21-year veteran, died Saturday "surrounded by his family and close friends," said Harrisburg Fire Chief Brian Enterline, who called him "a leader in our department and the fire service as a whole."

"His passion for the fire service made each of us strive to be better in all we do," Enterline said. "Our hearts are broken and we grieve for the loss of our brother."

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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