MARY MAZZONI
The Philadelphia Daily News

A man who neighbors described as a "hoarder" died in a fire in his cluttered Wissinoming home yesterday morning, officials said.


"You wouldn't want to go in there," a neighbor said. "Except for a mattress on the floor, it was nothing but piles of trash everywhere."

The blaze in the two-story home on Howell Street near Tackawanna was reported at 7:32 a.m. and brought under control fewer than 20 minutes later.

Neighbors identified the victim as Bob Irvine, a Vietnam vet who worked as a welder at Philadelphia International Airport.

Irvine, 60, was planning his retirement before the blaze, a longtime friend said.

Firefighters found the victim dead on the first floor.

Mounds of debris stood more than two feet high throughout the house, said Terrence Dillon, supervisor of construction and inspection for the Department of Licenses and Inspections. L&I was on the scene yesterday to board up the home.

"He never threw anything out," said Al Chernoff, a friend of Irvine's for more than 20 years.

The large amount of paper trash in the home likely contributed to the speed of the fire, an inspector said.

"It went up real quick," said Robert Swirsding, who lives across the street. "There were flames covering the whole entire house."

Dillon said that he suspects that the victim died on the mattress. "It was badly burnt up," he said.

The cause of the blaze is under investigation by the fire marshal, but fire officials said that there were no smoke detectors inside the house.

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february 22, 2011