Coroner identifies Westmont fire victim.
Jul. 27—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — The victim of Wednesday's deadly house fire in Westmont Borough has been identified as Grant Jeanjaquet, a 22-year-old nursing student at St. Vincent College, Latrobe, who was employed in the emergency department at Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, authorities said on Thursday.
Jeanjaquet was overcome by toxic smoke and gas, Cambria County Coroner Jeffrey Lees said.
He was found on the first floor between the couch and the wall.
Five family members were rescued and taken to Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown.
The 41-year-old mother is in stable condition. The 37-year-old father and 5-year-old son were released from the hospital Wednesday. Their two daughters, ages 18 and 14, remain in the hospital Thursday, one in critical condition and the other in stable condition.
"Firefighters and first responders did one hell of a job rescuing five individuals and a German shepherd," Lees said.
The fire is being ruled accidental, but remains under investigation, West Hills Deputy fire Chief Kevin Schrock said.
The fire broke out at 2:05 a.m. Wednesday in a two-story house in the 200 block of Fayette Street. Johnstown and West Hill fire crews were first to arrive.
"Crews arrived on scene with heavy fire conditions on the first floor," Schrock said.
"Multiple people were on the roof over the porch," he said. "Rescues were made, and the fire was extinguished."
The family was asleep at the time when the father was alerted by the smoke detector.
"When he opened the door, he encountered heavy black smoke," Schrock said.
"He immediately begins to scream and yell and alerted the occupants and is able to get himself, the son and the mother out onto the porch roof."
The mother went back inside the home to rescue her youngest daughter, who was sleeping in a second-floor bedroom, Schrock said.
She made her way through the choking black smoke to the other side of the house, he said.
"Firefighters made entry and began a search, where they found the mother and the daughter collapsed in the bedroom," he said.
Firefighters found the pair near the window and brought them down the ladder to safe ground where EMS crews were waiting.
"I can't stress enough the heroics of the mother," Schrock said.
Schrock said multiple fire and EMS crews worked together, adding first responders risk their own lives each time the call goes out.
"That's the job, everybody understands that," he said. "There is inherent danger.
"I can't say enough about what the crews faced going into that situation."
