Top Stories of 2022: No. 2 - Two firefighters die in Clamtown fire
Dec. 31—Two firefighters from Community Fire Company in New Tripoli died Dec. 7 after they were trapped in a burning house in West Penn Twp.
Marvin Gruber, 59, and Zachary Paris, 36, both of Lynn Twp., Lehigh County, were rescued from the home at 1121 Clamtown Road and transported to St. Luke's Hospital-Miners Campus in Coaldale, where they were pronounced dead.
Autopsies by the Lehigh County Coroner's Office determined the two died of asphyxia and thermal injuries.
The coroner's office is waiting for the completion of the West Penn Twp. Police Department investigation to rule on the manner of death.
A call to the coroner's office was not returned Thursday.
As of Dec. 12, the incident was an active investigation. An employee of the police department said there was nothing new to report.
A service for Gruber and Paris, who was an assistant chief for Community Fire Company and a career firefighter in Frederick County, Maryland, was held Dec. 17 at Northwestern Lehigh Middle School in New Tripoli.
A structure fire with reported entrapment was called into the Schuylkill County Communications Center shortly before 4 p.m. Dec. 7. Firefighters from Schuylkill and nearby counties responded.
A cause of the fire has not been determined.
Two men lived at the home, Christopher Kammerdiener, 35, who was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the woods not far from the home, and his uncle, Bernard Kammerdiener, 63, who survived the fire.
Both had escaped the burning home, said West Penn Twp. Police Chief James Bonner, who had earlier described the fire as suspicious.
As of Thursday, a GoFundMe account established previously with the New Tripoli Bank on behalf of the fallen firefighters had raised $88,421 toward its $100,000 goal.
Money donated will be split to help with future expenses of the families, according to the post.
Two West Penn Twp. firefighters were also injured in the fire, one with a hand injury and the other with smoke inhalation. Their identities were not provided.
Contact the writer: amarchiano@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6023
