A teacher at Bethlehem’s East Hills Middle School died along with four children in a house fire in Polk Township overnight.
The fire at 5107 Brook Road, a ranch-style home near Kunkletown, was reported around 11:50 p.m. Thursday. State police and firefighters searched the home and found the bodies of the 53-year-old woman, Rosemarie LaBarre, and the children, who ranged in age from 2 to 7.
According to an online fundraiser posted to the Facebook page of House of The Rock Church near Wind Gap, they were the children of LaBarre’s daughter, Markie Ribera, and her husband, Carlos. The fundraiser identifies the children as Kathryn, Kaleb, Kristian, and Kasper.
All were pronounced dead at the scene by the Monroe County Coroner’s Office. State police said there were no indications the cause of the fire was suspicious.
Bethlehem Area School District Superintendent Joseph Roy said the district was informed Friday morning of LaBarre’s death. She had been a family and consumer sciences teacher at the middle school since 2008.