Mar 2, 2023 By Mike Jones newsroom@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read

The Fayette County coroner is being ordered by the state Office of Open Records to release the name of the 11-year-old boy who died in the Dec. 27 house fire in Springfield Township.

State officials ruled Wednesday that the victim’s identity must be made public after the coroner’s office declined to release the information following an open records request by the Herald-Standard and Observer-Reporter newspapers after the fatal fire.

Two adults were able to escape the fire at 390 Hawkins Hollow Road in Springfield Township, but the youngster and three dogs died in the blaze. The man and woman, who were not identified, were treated at an area hospital for unspecified injuries and released. The state police fire marshal ruled the fire cause as accidental, although it was not known where in the mobile home the fire began.

A reporter at the newspapers filed an open records request through the state’s Right-To-Know Law three days after the fire asking that the victim be identified, along with information regarding the cause and manner of his death. The coroner’s office denied the request, prompting the newspapers to appeal to the Office of Open Records in Harrisburg on Jan. 4 asking for it to review the decision.

Jeremy Davis, the attorney representing the coroner’s office, wrote in the county’s formal response that they were not releasing the identity due to the victim’s age and since the cause of the fire was still under investigation.

The county has 30 days to provide the information on the fire victim’s identity or appeal the ruling to the Court of Common Pleas in Fayette County.

Fayette County Coroner Phillip Reilly in the past has declined to release the identities of other minors whose deaths his office investigated. But in its ruling Wednesday, the open records office determined that the identity of minors and the cause and manner of their deaths are “subject to public access” and must be released under state law.

Reached by telephone Wednesday afternoon, Reilly said he was following policy and thought it was “appropriate” to withhold the identification from the public.

He had not yet seen the open records office’s order, so he was waiting to receive official notification and spend time reviewing it with his legal counsel before releasing the boy’s name. Reilly added that he did not expect the order to change how he proceeds with identifying minors in the future.

“I will not. As a policy moving forward, I will turn it over to the lawyer. I think we have justification,” Reilly said. “Will I jump up and down henceforth this day forward and comply? No. I will consult with counsel.”

State police also declined to identify the boy, but a spokesperson said he was visiting the home at the time and was not from Fayette County. The Ligonier Valley School District issued a statement hours after the fire that a sixth-grader at its middle school had died unexpectedly, and school officials would be offering grief counselors to students and staff.