OLD FORGE - One man is dead and a Fallon street home is severely damaged after a late afternoon fire in the borough.
Joseph Casella, 60, died in the emergency department of Geisinger Community Medical Center shortly after the blaze, according to Lackawanna County Coroner Tim Rowland.
Mr. Casella was killed in a fire at his 534 Fallon St. home, although no cause of death was released Friday night. State police fire marshals, Old Forge police and the coroner's office are investigating the blaze.
Old Forge Fire Chief Mark Tagliaterra said borough police were the first on scene just before 4 p.m. and entered the smoking home to find James Casella, 57, the victim's brother at the top of the stairs on the second floor of the home. Police helped James Casella from the home but, once outside, he tried to run back into the home, the chief said.
When firefighters arrived they found Joseph Casella unconscious in the home and lowered him down a ladder from a second-floor window.
He was then transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:14 p.m.
"There was smoke pouring out of every angle of the house. There were flames shooting out the side," said neighbor Marissa Hasting, 26, who lives across the street from Mr. Casella's residence.
The fire began in the second-floor bathroom and spread throughout the upstairs and attic, according to an investigation of the blaze.
She said the Casella brothers lived in the home for as long as she could remember. The chief said there is severe heat and smoke damage on the second floor and smoke and water damage on the first floor. Firefighters from Old Forge, Taylor, Moosic, Duryea and Pittston Twp. responded to the scene.
County records show the home is owed by Fiore and Dorothy Casella.
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