SPARROWS POINT, Md. — A Thursday morning house fire in Baltimore County has left an 85-year-old man dead.
Baltimore County fire officials say Joseph Nicolas never made it out of his house.
The fire started around 2:00 this morning in a home on Snyder Avenue in Sparrows Point. As a firefighters fought back the flames, they found a man dead inside the home.
"I heard popping and crackling and a big orange reflection on her house looking out my window, luckily I had it cracked," said Anthony Esposito, a neighbor.
Esposito says he knows his neighbor as Mr. Joe. He says he's had enjoyable conversations with Mr. Joe before.
He ran over and tried to pound on the front door.
"Unfortunately, I couldn't kick it in, smoke was coming out of the wood in the door and the windows started to explode and I got away from it," Esposito said.
Knowing 911 was called, all Esposito could do was wait for the fire department.
Even though this fire was in the middle of the night, it was so loud it brought neighbors out of the homes.
Investigators believe the fire originated in the bedroom of the home, although the cause remains unclear.
Esposito tells us Nicolas was supposed to move out. He also says the Nicolas lost his wife a year and a half ago.
She died when her oxygen tank caught fire from a cigarette according to Esposito.
