5 Dead in Pa. Fire; 4 Row Houses Burn

The holiday decorations had been plugged into a power strip joined to an extension cord, Fire Capt. Robert Scheirer said.

The cause of the early morning fire was preliminarily ruled accidental. Investigators were trying to determine if the wiring failed, a specific ornament shorted out or if something else was involved, Scheirer said.

The three-story row home where the fire started had no working smoke alarms. Three men and two women died inside, Scheirer said.

Firefighters were able to get the fire under control by 7 a.m., about half an hour after it started. They also rescued two adults and six children from a row house next-door.

The injured were treated for smoke inhalation and released.

The other row homes that burned were either vacant or the people inside escaped on their own, Scheirer said. Four other houses on the street were damaged by smoke.

"I got woken up by people screaming 'Fire!'" said Rafael Canizares, 40, who lives a few doors down and fled with his mother in the pre- dawn darkness. He said he saw flames coming out of several houses and several front porches ablaze.

The Lehigh County Coroner's Office identified the victims as Barbara Houx, 52; Casundra Miller, 28; Shawn Sandt, 22; Randy Keding, 27; and Allen Lindenmuth, 48. All died of smoke inhalation, the coroner's office said in a news release.

Brenda Pun, 41, described Houx as a generous person who was active in the community.

"I just talked to her yesterday," Pun said as she stood outside the home. "She would give to anybody, no matter what they needed."

The blaze was the city's first fatal fire since 2004, the mayor's office said.

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