By RYAN ROBINSON | Staff WriterAnna Weidman, 87, died in a two-alarm fire that destroyed the West Cocalico house she and her husband called home for about 30 years.
The cause of death was smoke inhalation and thermal injuries, and the manner of death was accidental, according to Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni.
She and her husband, Charles, were listed on the deed, and a neighbor said they lived there together during their 30 years as neighbors to his home since childhood.
"I can't imagine what it'll be like for Charlie" without his wife, said the neighbor, Larry Schultz.
Authorities said an elderly woman burned in the two-alarm fire that destroyed the Weidmans' home at at 1280 Texter Mountain Road, Reinholds, early Friday morning.
A person had been reportedly trapped in the 12:30 a.m. fully-involved blaze, a county dispatch supervisor said.
A LifeLion medical helicopter flew Weidman to the Lehigh Valley Burn Center, where he was in serious condition Friday.
A state police fire marshal is investigating the cause of the 12:30 a.m. fire at the Weidmans' home at at 1280 Texter Mountain Road, Reinholds. It is not thought to be suspicious.
Smoke detectors woke up the couple, and Weidman went outside, but wasn't able to get back into the house, an investigator said.
Many fire engines and tankers were sent to the fire scene, along with several ambulances. Tanker trucks transported water to the house, which is up a hill several hundred feet from the main road.
Schultz, 71, described the couple, who lived two houses away from him, as "wonderful people."
He knew them well, not only because they were his neighbors for 30 years. His late mother was close friends with Anna Weidman.
Schultz said he talked to Weidman, who went by "Ann," every couple of weeks on the telephone.
"She was a good talker," he said. "She would keep you on the line for a while."
She would talk about the flowers she put out in pots on the back and side decks of the house and especially the animals she would watch in her backyard at night.
"Ann and Charlie would feed the animals," Schultz said. She'd watch the wild turkeys eat from her bird feeder. And her husband put corn out in the woods for the deer.
"She would get mad at the raccoons because they dug up her garden," Schultz said, "but she liked to look at them."
She loved her flowers, too, Schultz said.
Now, he said choking up, "there's a flower pot sitting in the corner (of the side deck). It just looks so sad."
The cause of Mrs. Weidman's death was smoke inhalation and thermal injuries, and the manner of death was accidental, according to Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni.
Emergency apparatus from Reinholds, Stevens, Smoketown, Denver, Schoeneck and neighboring Berks County fire companies responded to the blaze.
The fire was declared under control at 2:36 a.m.
Staff writer Joe Hainthaler contributed to this article.
