A Brooklyn man who was found badly burned in his basement this week actually died from several stab wounds, police revealed Thursday.

Emergency responders found 64-year-old Hugh Kirkland in the basement of a house on 96th Street near Lenox Road in East Flatbush after a fire tore through the two-story home, officials said.

Kirkland, who investigators initially believed perished in the fire, had been stabbed four times with an unknown object in his chest and neck before the flames even reached him, an autopsy revealed.

The fire department determined Thursday that the blaze was intentionally set, officials said.

It was not immediately clear whether the killer set the fire to cover his tracks, police said.

There were no smoke alarms in the basement, the FDNY said.

Kirkland was pronounced dead at the scene, and a second resident was taken to Brookdale Hospital in stable condition, authorities said.

Police have ruled the death a homicide, though no arrests have been made.