Services today for two children killed in Olney fire

Services for two boys killed in a devastating Olney house fire are scheduled for 4 p.m. today at the Soryarangsey Khmer Buddhist Temple at 5415 Rising Sun Avenue, according to a community leader.

Plans also were being made for a Saturday service at the Mann Funeral home at 219 Tabor Road, although those arrangements were incomplete, said Rorng Sorn, executive director of the Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia.

She identified the dead children as Kevin Taing, 7, and Peterson Taing, 9.

Their rowhouse at 134 Sparks St. was home to at least 10 members of an extended family, some of whom came to America as refugees more than a decade ago.

The fast-moving fire injured at least seven other members of the household, including four other children. Family members apparently never called the 911 emergency line, and instead tried to extinguish the blaze themselves, according to Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers.

By noon, the flames had grown out of control, and passersby and neighbors called 911. The house was destroyed.

The father of the boys, Sokpheng Taing, had that morning gone to a local government office to deal with a tax matter, and returned to find the house ablaze, Sorn said. The mother of the children was at the time in Cambodia, having been called there suddenly to attend to her ill mother. She returned to Philadelphia immediately, arriving Thursday.

Donations to help pay funeral expenses may be brought to this afternoon's ceremony, Sorn said. Donations also may be made in care of the Cambodian association, at 5412 North 5th St., Philadelphia, PA, 19120.