A man is dead after fire ripped through a home Tuesday afternoon in Heidelberg Township, Lebanon County, about eight miles southwest of Womelsdorf, Berks County.
More than 60 firefighters worked to knock out the flames and try to save the man at the residence in the 300 block of South Lancaster Avenue, but it was too late.
"It's a shame, he was a real nice guy," said neighbor Glenn Ginder. When Ginder got to the scene, he knew there was no way his older neighbor made it out alive.
"The flames were coming out all over," he said. "I mean, it went quick and spread quick. My son had the first truck here within minutes, putting water on it, but it was gone."
Ginder says people heard some kind of an explosion, and when firefighters from ten different departments arrived at the scene, they knew someone was inside.