A preliminary investigation showed the fire started on the porch around 2:30 a.m. Friday, according to Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce. “The information I have is that the fire started and progressed very quickly, making it very difficult to get out,” he said. Shannon Daubert, 45, died in the flames. Facebook Laura Daubert, 47, was also killed. The victims were identified as Dale Baker, 19. Star Baker, 22; David Daubert Sr., 79; Brian Daubert, 42; Shannon Daubert, 45; Laura Daubert, 47; and Marian Slusser, 54. The names of the younger victims, two boys ages 5 and 6 and a 7-year-old girl, have not been officially released, but the GoFundMe identified the 6-year-old as Aiden Michael James Daubert. Autopsies were scheduled for this weekend. The three children were visiting their aunt and uncle who owned the house. A.P There were also 13 dogs in the two-story house. The fate of the animals was not clear. Dale Baker, a 2021 graduate of Berwick High School, was, like his parents, a volunteer firefighter for Nescopeck, which is about 50 miles southwest of Scranton. Only three adults managed to escape the fire, which destroyed the house. A state police investigation into the cause is ongoing. The tragedy was compounded when one of the volunteer firefighters who rushed to the fire, Harold Baker, realized that the fire was at his relatives’ house and his son, daughter and grandchildren, among other family members, were inside. The children were visiting their aunt and uncle who owned the house, Baker said. “All I wanted to do was go there and go to these people, my family. That was all I was thinking about, getting to know them,” Baker told The Associated Press. With Post cables
