Man found dead after house fire in east Toronto

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An elderly man died in his cluttered Riverdale home after an early morning two-alarm fire ripped through his home.

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Sean and Ania Humphries, who live a few doors east of the house, were deeply saddened by the fact that their elderly neighbor they knew as ‘Joseph’ died as a result of the fire.

“We always knew he was a bit of a hoarder,” Ania said, looking at the debris that littered her lawn, side alley, backyard and covered the entire front porch.

Her husband, Sean, said « we knew he was protecting his house » by installing home surveillance cameras on the porch and putting up a tall white picket fence around the lawn.

« He was keeping his belongings, » Sean said.

Both agreed it was « sad » that he died inside his home which they believed he had lived in for over 40 years.

« We didn’t realize how bad it really was inside, » Ania said.

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They both knew him to say hello, and said he was a bit reclusive, but not about the extreme extent of his hoarding tendencies.

Toronto Fire Department Platoon Chief Kevin Shaw said firefighters encountered thick black smoke and lots of flame as they tried to put out the blaze.

“Generally you are able to get in and hopefully get to the fire seed,” Shaw said. « But it was a difficult situation with the amount of debris and such in the house. »

« It made it difficult for the teams to move around and search the whole building. »

A person at the scene said it was « the worst conditions they have seen » for the amount of stuff in the house with no clear path to cross to fight the fire.

Ontario Fire Marshal Investigator Jim Kettles said he and another officer along with Toronto firefighters are conducting their preliminary exterior and interior investigations to determine the origins of the blaze. .

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As investigators walked through the front door, they encountered all sorts of trash, trash, boxes, debris, which made it difficult for them to navigate the stairs to the second floor.

Humphries shot a video showing firefighters throwing all kinds of items out the back windows of the house into the already crowded backyard.

A massive green tarp on the porch covered all sorts of unknown objects.

Empty Amazon boxes were stacked above, along with blue and green recycling bins stacked right next to the front door.

The victim was reportedly found by firefighters, in the back bathroom – on the second floor – during the extinction of the fire and their search.