A third person has died following the fire at a Bucks County nursing home
Patricia Mero, 66, is the third person to have died in the fire that claimed the lives of two other people and injured 20 others.
A third person has died following the fire at a Bucks County nursing home that claimed the lives of two other people and injured 20 others days before Christmas.
Bristol Township identified resident Patricia Mero, 66, as the latest death following the fire that destroyed parts of the Bristol Health & Rehab Center in Bristol Township on Dec. 23. Mero died Monday morning, according to the Bucks County Coroner’s Office. The cause of death was listed as a chest trauma; the manner of death an accident.
Nurse Muthoni Nduthu and a woman whom Bristol Township Police identified as Ann Reddy, another resident, were also killed in the fire.
An explosion occurred at the nursing home in the early afternoon on Dec. 23, flattening a section of the building that collapsed the first floor and sent people and debris tumbling into the basement. Bristol Fire Chief Kevin Dippolito said that at one point, a heavy odor of gas forced firefighters out of the building, only for another explosion to go off 30 seconds later.
Many residents and visitors of the 174-bed nursing home reported the smell of gas in the days leading up to the disaster. Additionally, Peco had visited the nursing home hours before the explosion.
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading an investigation into the cause of the fire, while the owners of the nursing home, Saber Healthcare Group, Peco, and others are being sued for their alleged negligence in the fiery explosion.
On Monday, the NTSB said it had completed on-scene work in Bristol and would release a preliminary report on its findings by early February.
The investigation into the fire will likely take months, with experts telling The Inquirer that federal investigators would focus on Peco and the nursing home operator’s actions leading up to the explosion.