DETROIT (WXYZ) — Neighbors say the heat from a house fire was so intense, they didn’t need coats outside on their block this morning. They feared the worst for the three people that lived there.
When they reached two of them, it was bittersweet. Two they feared dead had survived, but one Detroit man lost his life.
Detroit firefighters responded to the call around 4:45 in the morning. When they got there, the house was fully engulfed. A neighbor who woke up to the fire across the street says there was nothing anyone could do to get inside and rescue the man.
“It's literally melted my siding. Some of the siding next to us. I still can’t believe that they pulled out a body from somebody that was in there that I knew. That was handicapped,” said Wanda Chandler, a neighbor.
Chandler says the man who died was always friendly, had a disability and spent his day panhandling outside La Carreta Market at Michigan Avenue and Apple.
“He did a little panhandling on the Avenue, but that is where he laid his head,” she said, pointing to his house.
“Everybody knew him. Everybody talked to him. We would go out and he would have people sit and talk to him. He was a nice old man,” said Avelino Lopez, owner of La Carreta Market.
Lopez says hearing about the fire is heartbreaking.
“He was humble. If he would see me doing something outside, he would try to help. People outside, he would help with their bags,” said Lopez.
As fire investigators work to determine the cause, one neighbor keeps thinking about recent conversation.
“Literally, just the other day, I was asked if I had a heater they could borrow and I didn’t have one. So I feel bad because I don’t know what they were using to heat the house. If I could have helped them, I would have,” she said.
Fire investigators have not said whether home heating issues led to the fire. Arson investigators are still working to determine the cause.
