Gilpin man, 45, killed in house fire; search for cause continues

A Gilpin man died in a house fire early Friday morning when he was unable to escape the burning structure, the Armstrong County coroner said.

Jeremy Wildie, 45, who lived along Banfield Road, was found near the rear door of his residence, Coroner Brian Myers said.

Wildie was not able to get out of the house after the fire started, Myers said.

He said it is possible the victim was sleeping and awakened by the fire, which was reported about 4:30 a.m., and he might have been overcome by smoke as he attempted to flee.

The coroner’s office ruled Wildie’s death was accidental and caused by carbon monoxide asphyxiation. There will be no autopsy.

There were no signs of foul play, according to Myers’ report.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by a state police fire marshal and Gilpin police.

Myers said another resident in Wildie’s side of the duplex is a truck driver who was not home.

Two residents living in the other side of the duplex escaped the fire and are being assisted by the American Red Cross.

The house was fully involved in flames when firefighters arrived on the scene, according to the Gilpin Township Volunteer Fire Department statement on its Facebook page.

The fire company declined to comment.

Assisting Gilpin were fire departments from Leechburg, Bethel Township and West Leechburg. Gilpin’s fire department also thanked township police, the Armstrong County Coroner’s Office and Boulder Landscape, Excavation & Supply in Gilpin.

Neighbors said they were awakened by noise from the fire.

“I woke up and looked out the window and saw the flames,” said Joseph Sabot, 41, whose home along Banfield Road is separated from the fire scene by an empty lot.

Sabot said he knows the residents but declined to comment further about them.

“It went out of control. Everything kept burning,” he said. “It (fire) surrounded the whole house.”

He said firefighters were at the scene within a few minutes.

“It could have been worse,” Sabot said.

Another area resident, Misti Bopp, who was staying with her grandmother on Banfield Drive, said she awoke to “banging sounds,” looked out the window and saw flames.

“I heard banging sounds and then heard the firetrucks. The house was engulfed in flames,” Bopp said. “I saw so much smoke.”

The remnants of the house, with some of the side still standing, were still smoldering at 9:40 a.m.

Sabot said the intense fire melted siding off a rental property he owns adjacent to the 100-year-old, wood-frame house that was destroyed.

He said it was scary “how fast it happened.”