PHOTO PROVIDED Lois Breon, 81, died of smoke inhalation when her home on Zinck Road in Mifflin Township burst into flames around 4:30 a.m. on October 30, 2024.

JERSEY SHORE – Two people died in separate, unrelated residential fires early Wednesday morning, according to Lycoming County Coroner Charles E. Kiessling Jr.

The first fire occurred about 4:30 a.m. in a one-story ranch-style home at 226 Zinck Road in Mifflin Township, where Lois Breon, 81, lived with her son, Kiessling said. Although son Matthew managed to escape, his mother, rescued by volunteer firefighters, was pronounced dead at 5:50 a.m. at Geisinger Jersey Shore Hospital, Kiessling said.

The second fire, a few miles east of the Breon home at 1547 W. Emerys Church Road in Woodward Township, involved a mobile home where 56-year-old Lori Toner lived alone with her two dogs and three cats, Kiessling said. The fire was reported by a passerby around 6:45 a.m., township Fire Chief Richard Whalen said.

Toner, whose body was found in a hallway near a back door, was pronounced dead at the scene, Kiessling said. It was suspected she may have been attempting to escape when she collapsed in a hallway, he said.

Both she and Breon died of smoke inhalation, he added. There is no evidence that the fires are connected to each other, said Kießling. The investigation into both fires was led by the state police department's fire department. Although nothing has been announced about the origin and cause of the Mifflin Township fire, Whalen said a firefighter told him that the fire on Emerys Church Road was started by careless smoking. Both properties were destroyed by the fires.

Citizens Hose Fire Chief Ethan Goodbrod, who was in charge of the Zinck Road fire, said Breon's son was already out of the house when a firefighter who lives just a few doors away arrived at the scene. However, the man said his mother was trapped in the burning building.

When the first fire truck arrived on the scene, a pair of firefighters entered the home through the front door with a hose while another pair focused their attention on reaching Breon, Goodbrod said.

“The fire department got her out of a bedroom window.” after they found her unconscious on the floor, he said. “Once we got there, firefighters got her out within three to four minutes.” he added.

Breon was taken to the hospital by ambulance, but attempts to revive her were unsuccessful, Kiessling said.

As firefighters responded to the fire, they could see “an orange glow” in the sky about half a mile away. It took firefighters about 20 minutes to bring the fire under control. In addition to firefighters from both county fire departments, volunteers from multiple counties in Lycoming and Clinton responded to the fire.

The second fire occurred a half mile east of Pine Run Road. When Whalen arrived at the scene, he reported that a mobile home was on fire. Firefighters had no idea Toner was inside until a son arrived during the fire and told them he thought she was in there. There was no car in the driveway, Whalen noticed.

Several fire companies that responded to the first fire, including Woodward Township, were immediately laid off to fight the mobile home fire because their services were no longer needed in Mifflin Township, Whalen said. Firefighters from Lock Haven and South Williamsport, who were at the Citizens Fire Station on Locust Street to handle other emergency calls, also responded to West Emerys Church Road.

Whalen brought the fire under control at 7:10 a.m. He said crews used less than 6,000 liters of water to extinguish the fire. Toner's two dogs also died in the fire, but two to three cats were seen running around the property, Whalen said.

It is believed this could be the first time in decades that two people have been killed in fires in separate buildings in the county on the same day.