SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) —Officials have identified the victim of Saturday night’s fire in Scranton as 64-year-old Gerard McGuire.
First responders were called to a fire in the 1500 block of West Gibson Avenue Saturday night around 8:20 pm.
When crews arrived, they were met with a “heavily involved” structure fire with reports of one person entrapped, according to the Lackawanna County Communications Center.
Scranton Fire Department officials now tell Eyewitness News one person involved in the fire is dead.
“Unfortunately when conducting our searches we did locate one individual deceased in the residence at this time but all the crews on scene made a valiant effort attempt and worked extremely hard and did an awesome job knocking down the fire,” said Acting Assistant Chief Carl Megotz.
Megotz also told Eyewitness News that reports of explosions in the fire were the result of some oxygen cylinders that ruptured in the flames.
The fire has been put out, but officials say first responders are still on the scene conducting an extensive overhaul of the building.
An Eyewitness News crew on the scene of the fire says a portion of West Gibson Avenue has been shut down as first responders work on the overhaul.
This is a developing story, Eyewitness News will have more information as it is made available.