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Re: Another really sad story. (this time from my town)
Identity of siblings killed in fire released
The parents of two children killed Saturday night in a Swatara Twp. house fire that might have been started by a candle had been selling belongings for money to restore their electric service, a neighbor said.
Outside the boarded-up house in the 900 block of Main Street in Bressler where 2 year-old Britton and 18-month-old Onna Donachy died, several brightly colored plastic toys still sat on a wooden chair Sunday atop a hand-written yard sale sign.
In addition to investigating the fire, Dauphin County District Attorney Edward M. Marsico Jr. said authorities are looking at whether to accuse parents Ryan and Deb Donachy of child abuse or neglect.
'There apparently was beyond-deplorable conditions inside that house,'' Marsico said. 'The cops who were there were saying they've never seen anything like this before, and that says a lot.''
Deb Donachy, 24, and her 5-month-old daughter, Autum, were badly injured in the blaze and are being treated at the Lehigh Valley Burn Unit. The hospital would not release their conditions Sunday night.
As for what started the fire, Marsico said investigators believe it might have been caused by a candle. PPL officials confirmed that power to the house was turned off Friday morning.
While police said some drug paraphernalia was found in the house, Marsico said the investigation is focusing more on the children's welfare.
According to authorities, the mother was asleep with the three children when the fire started. It was reported that Ryan Donachy discovered the fire around 7:30 p.m. when he returned home, and he got his family out of the house.
Emergency workers tried to resuscitate the two children, who later died at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, police said. Deb and Autum Donachy also were taken by ambulance to the center and later moved to the Lehigh facility.
Neighbors who gathered Saturday night as crews responded to the blaze said the family had been using candles since their power was turned off.
On Sunday, Karen Perrelli said the Donachys were selling toys, a television, stereo equipment and other belongings for money to pay their electric bill.
PPL spokesman Joe Scopelliti said he cannot discuss why power is turned off to a house because of privacy regulations.
He said PPL tries to work with customers before their power is turned off. The company gives customers repeated notifications of plans to turn off electricity, including two notices within 10 days of the termination, he said.
He added that PPL also offers assistance.
Perrelli said she and another neighbor called the authorities this year about living conditions in the home but nothing was done.
Perrelli said she called police in June about the smell of urine and feces coming from the house and the dirty diapers and trash strewn over the floor. Because of the conditions, Perrelli said she prohibited her 17-year-old daughter from babysitting the Donachys' children and her 11-year-old from playing at the house.
'The house was disgusting. I even told them they need to clean up,' she said. 'It was raunchy.'
Township administrator Paul Cornell confirmed that Swatara has an open file on the property, but said he did not know the details of the complaint.
'It's probably tall grass and weeds. That's generally how these complaints come in, but there is not much we can do on the inside of the house,' Cornell said. 'We can't go inside unless we are invited, have a search warrant or have a credible source, like a
police officer or firefighters, saying there's a problem.
CARRIE CASSIDY: 255-8244
or ccassidy@patriot-news.com
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This shit went down about two minutes from where I used to live. I went up to Harrisburg yesterday to visit family and I drove by this house that had a news crew filming and the windows all boarded up. I asked my grandmother what had happened and she basically told me everything that was in this article.
Re: Another really sad story. (this time from my town)
That's trash right there. Ashame for the children to be brought into such conditions.Those parents need some serious counciling or have the 5 month old taken away from them. It just shows a lack of effort. I can understand if someone gets behind on their bills, but smell of feces & urine on your property? That's disgusted.
Re: Another really sad story. (this time from my town)
There should be some sort of law where the electric and gas companies cannot shut off your utilities. If you cant pay, you at least get utilities for several hours in the night. While that doesn't solve the problem of shitty parents, it will help prevent tragedies such as this.
I remember last year a family died because they had a BBQ pit in their house to keep them warm. Really stupid move obviously, but when you have kids in a cold house you will go to almost any lengths.
Re: Another really sad story. (this time from my town)
I would agree with you James, and I used to feel that way, but I worked in Customer Service at the Electric Company here & you'd be shocked how much $$ alot of these people owe. Plus, there are currently alot of laws about how & when they can shut off electric, and alot of loopholes for these people to get around it & beat the system. I'm going back 10 years or so but alot of them owe $5,000-$10,000+. Not only that, but we could see their payment history, and they hadn't made 1 payment all year! That's why I said that about not showing effort. Alot of power companies do & have to set up arrangements for these people. If they cannot and are not willing to make something like $50.month then maybe they need to adjust their living conditions & spending. I remember one time a lady screaming & yelling at me about how she's on welfare & how can she pay her electric bill if she only gets $600.mo of welfare & has 3 kids or something.. I felt bad, there really is no answer, but the very next call was a sweet old lady who was on welfare,and called up to make sure we recv'd her $50 monthly payment. Isn't really fair if one party is responsible & the other is out there getting cable & HBO & buying the latest CD's & stuff.
It wasn't isolated incidences either, I'm talking every day I would speak to these people. You'd be shocked, the majority of them aren't shut off for just missing 3 or 4 months of billing. It happens occasionally, but they're also the one's who eventually ccan either pay to get it back on, or the company makes arrangements for them to do so.
- DoubleTalkingJive
- Rep: 74
Re: Another really sad story. (this time from my town)
It's really sad when you hear parents have their children in such horrendous conditions. Makes me ill. It's one thing if they chose to live that way themselves, then don't have kids and put them though it too. They didn't ask to be here and then to be living in filth where their health is now at state, not to mention their mental state of mind is horrendous.
