Fatal Chesco fire blamed on smoking materials

The three women killed in a Chester County fire Monday were described as "pillars of the community" who went out of their way to help others.

Sally Diane Rimel, 52, and Rolanda L. Rimel, 58, were sisters. Angel Maria Rimel, 37, was Sally Rimel's daughter. They died after being unable to exit the rear deck of the home in a blaze caused by "carelessly discarded smoking materials," Police Chief Curt Martinez said in a statement Tuesday.

Two male adults and two children, a boy and a girl, escaped the fire after attempting to rescue the victims from the home in the 300 block of Hill Road in West Caln Township, authorities said.

The three women lived in Colwyn, where they had been active in the political and faith communities and helped out whenever needed, friends said.

"They were . . . very well loved," Paula M. Brown, former mayor of Darby Borough and former Colwyn borough manager, said Tuesday. "Colwyn and Darby will be suffering a great tragic loss here with them gone."

Angel Rimel had run unsuccessfully in 2013 for Colwyn Borough Council. At the last council meeting, she said she was thinking of running again, Brown said.

"They will be sorely missed, and we are really devastated as a community of faith," said Pastor Darren Johnson of New Life Baptist Church, where Angel and Rolanda were members.

The elder women were the sisters of David Rimel, captain of Darby Fire Patrol No. 2, according to a Facebook post by the patrol.

"Basically, the whole family, more or less, was involved in volunteering," said Dan Rutland, former mayor of Colwyn and municipal leader of the Delaware County Republican Party, in which, he said, the women were active.

Sally Rimel had been a secretary for the party in Colwyn, he said.

The fire started outside the rural home in several plastic trash and recycling bins where smoking materials had been discarded, according to an investigation by the Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshal Unit and the Chester County Fire Marshal's Office.

Investigators were unable to determine the kind of smoking materials because of the damage from the blaze, the marshal's office said.

Wind and weather conditions contributed to the fire's spreading quickly, investigators said.

Everyone in the home at the time of the fire was related. A resident of the home had died the night before, Martinez said.

The blaze, reported at 12:07 p.m., quickly engulfed the double-wide manufactured home and spread to adjacent woods. It was declared under control at 12:50, said Wagontown Volunteer Fire Company Chief Todd Ziegler.