CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. — The Cumberland County Coroner's Office announced the cause of death for the two people killed in a Monday fire at a Monroe Township home.
In a press conference, coroner Charley Hall said 34-year-old Jerome Guise, a 17-year veteran firefighter at Citizens Fire Company in Mount Holly Springs, died of asphyxiation, smoke inhalation, and thermal burns.
Jessica Diehl, 36, who was living in the home on Boiling Springs Road, died of smoke inhalation, the coroner's office said.
She was on the second floor of the home, right at the stairway, apparently trying to escape the fire when she died, officials say. She had a foot injury that made it difficult for her to move, according to officials.
Guise died while trying to rescue Diehl from inside the home, officials said at the press conference. While he was in the house, the roof collapsed on him.
The weight of the roof on Guise's chest and breathing the smoke and soot is ultimately how he died, according to the coroner.
"This just tears you up," said Hall. "It takes someone special to volunteer to be a firefighter and run into fires and save people. That says a lot about that person. They give their time, they give their all, and in some cases like this one, they give the ultimate sacrifice."
The Pennsylvania fire marshal continues to investigate the cause of the fire.