ARVADA — The body of a man has been found inside an Arvada home that was destroyed by fire.
Authorities have not released the name of the man, whose body was found in a front room of the home.
The Arvada Fire Department was called to the 5200 block of Dover Street at about 4:40 a.m. to fight a house fire, said Scott Pribble, spokesman for the Arvada Fire Protection District.
The first fire crews entered the small, single-story house to fight the blaze and search for victims but intense heat forced them back out, Pribble said.
Neighbors said a man lived at the home by himself. His pickup truck was parked in the driveway of the home.
Firefighters continued battling the fire from outside the home at 4:59 a.m., Pribble said.
Rodney Brewer, a neighbor, said he was awakened at about 5 a.m. by police pounding at his door.
“They told us we had to evacuate,” said Brewer, who lives two houses down from the burned-out home. “It was very chaotic.”
The house was ablaze when Brewer left his own home, he said. “When we walked out, you could feel the heat,” Brewer said.
Neighbors described the man who lives in the home as “quiet” yet “friendly.” They said he worked a night-shift job for a grocery chain until recently being released and also did odd jobs, including woodworking, during the day.
It took firefighters several hours to safely get to the body because the intense fire had weakened the roof of the home and the floor had collapsed. The front of the home was charred and gutted from the blaze.
Fire investigators are trying to determine the cause of the fire, Pribble said.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
