Town Mourns 11 Friends Killed in a Cabin Blaze

HERNDON, Pa. — They headed north to the wild beauty of a cabin in the mountains, 11 young people, all friends looking forward to a weekend of cards, cooking and laughter.

By daybreak Sunday, all of them were dead, caught in their beds by a swift fire.

Little remained Monday of the two-story cabin on Madisonburg Mountain except a tin roof, bent in the middle and draped like a tent over the stubs of charred supports. The cause of the blaze was under investigation.

The victims were in their late teens and early 20s, and all were from Herndon, a close-knit rural town in central Pennsylvania. Some were going to Line Mountain High School; the rest had graduated and were in college or working.

The reaction in their hometown was grief and disbelief.

Veterans of another tragedy -- the explosion of Paris-bound TWA Flight 800 off New York’s Long Island in 1996--came to help console them. Of the 230 people killed in the crash, 21 were from Montoursville, 35 miles from Herndon.

Classes were suspended Monday at Line Mountain High so students could talk instead about the fire and the victims. Many spoke to members of the same county crisis team that offered consolation to Montoursville residents two years ago.

Karen Wiest, the mother of two victims, 20-year-old David and 17-year-old Toby, said: “The community is very strong and the people will pull together. They will get through this.”

The 11 friends arrived on the mountain Friday night and were planning to go home Sunday, said John Wehry, the uncle of three victims.

All of the victims apparently were overcome by smoke and died in bed without trying to escape. There was no evidence of an explosion, or that the victims had been drinking.

The oak and pine cabin, about 40 miles northwest of Herndon and 140 miles northwest of Philadelphia, had been in Wehry’s family almost 50 years.

“They were all friends, that bunch,” he said. “They loved to cook. They always were trying to make their favorite recipes and brag about it.”