>Trooper: Fire in rural Pa. farmhouse kills 7 kids

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A fire at a farmhouse killed seven children Tuesday while their mother was in a barn milking cows and their father was taking a nap in a milk delivery truck, a state trooper said.

One child survived. Those who perished ranged in age from 7 months to 11 years.

The children’s father had left the two-story home, on a working farm not far from the state capital, to get his truck around 10 p.m. Tuesday, Trooper Tom Pinkerton said. Two children, ages 2 and 3, were watching television at the time.

The father drove a short distance away to pick up milk, parked the truck and nodded off, Pinkerton said.

Soon after, one of the children smelled smoke in the home and ran to the barn to alert the mother, Pinkerton said. The mother called 911 and ran with the child the short distance to the father’s truck and banged on its windows, screaming that their home was on fire, he said.

By the time the father returned to the home in Blain, about 20 miles north of Harrisburg, it was fully engulfed by flames, Pinkerton said. Firefighters had arrived and were battling the blaze.

No cause or origin of the fire had been determined. Fire marshals were investigating.

Authorities closed part of a highway near the farm because of the fire and the investigation. The highway, Route 274, was shut in both directions, and traffic was rerouted.

>Suspected Tornado Hits Louisiana Town, 1 Killed

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A woman was killed and 11 others were hurt Saturday after a suspected tornado hit the southwestern Louisiana town of Rayne.

Acadia Parish sheriff’s spokeswoman Maxine Trahan said the 21-year-old woman died after a tree fell on her house.

Authorities say about 1,500 residents have been forced to leave their homes after natural gas leaks were reported. Trahan said the residents must stay away until at least Sunday.

At least 100 homes have been destroyed or damaged in a swath of destruction a quarter of a mile wide and three miles long.

“There are houses off their foundations,” State Police Trooper Stephen Hammons said.

Authorities said the 11 injuries were minor and that those people had been treated at area hospitals.

Meteorologist Donald Jones said the National Weather Service in Lake Charles was trying to determine if the high winds were a tornado. The destruction hit the Acadia Parish town of about 8,500 at around 10 a.m. as a line of violent thunderstorms moved through the area.

A storm system was moving across Louisiana, and Jones said it could make its way through Mississippi and Alabama in the next day or so.