Xerxes Wilson, and Brittany Horn

The News Journal

Investigators are working to find the cause of a heavy fire that consumed a Brandywine Hundred home late Tuesday night, killing a man trapped inside.

Firefighters from both Delaware and Pennsylvania were called to the 2600 block of Abington Road in the Dartmouth Woods neighborhood shortly before 11 p.m. When emergency officials arrived, they found the house fully ablaze, said Tom Looney, chief of the Talleyville Fire Company.

"We went around back to try to maybe find a way in, but we were forced back by the flames," Looney said.

The fire was under control around 11:30 p.m. but had destroyed most of the two-story home.

Inside, firefighters found a man believed to be in his 50s, according to New Castle County Paramedics. Officials did not disclose the victim's identity and the body is scheduled to undergo an autopsy later Wednesday, Assistant State Fire Marshal Michael G. Chionchio said.

Fred Shaen lives across the street from the home. When he looked out his window, the house was fully engulfed in flames with people running around outside trying to find a way in, he said.

"The whole first and second floor was in flames. There were flames shooting out all of the windows," Shaen said. "It was an astronomical amount of flames."

Sandy Ross, who lives two houses down from the burned home, said she heard a loud bang followed by a woman's screams. She dimmed her home office lights and noticed the fire's orange reflection on a neighbor's home. Outside, she found a woman trying to help the person in the house, but the flames were too intense. Ross said the woman screamed the name of the man who lived in the home as freezing wind scattered hot embers across the neighborhood.

"The whole house was up. It moved fast," Ross said. "My fear was it was going to jump (to other homes)."

Damages to the home were estimated at about $200,000, Chionchio said. No one else was injured during the firefighting efforts, he added.

Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com . Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.