PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Investigators are trying to determine the cause of a house fire in North Philadelphia that left a man dead early Thursday morning. Relatives of the victim said he was a big part of the family and the neighborhood.
It was around 5:15 a.m. when Executive Fire Chief Daniel McCarty said crews rushed over to the house fire at 12th and Huntingdon streets.
"We were able to gain entry and make forcible entry, get into the second floor," McCarty said. That is where they found Darryl Gordon, the only one inside. He did not survive.
It took fire crews about 30 minutes to get the fire under control.
McCarty said Gordon owns the house and work was being done on it.
Officials said the first crews there did not hear any working smoke detectors. McCarty said the fire marshal seemed to have an idea of how the fire may have started, but they're looking at everything before making the final determination.
When there was daylight, you could see the bottom of an office chair partially out of one of the second-floor windows. Gordon's family members believe that shows he was trying to get out.
Gordon lived at this home for a long time, according to his nephews. They said he was someone many in the family and the neighborhood looked up to because he would look out for them.
"He was an uncle to everybody. Everybody. He watched me grow up from a little kid on up. He was a good man."
They said Gordon had been in and out of the hospital since the holidays. And he suffered a major loss a decade ago when his son was killed — there's a mural of him on the side of the building.
"He gave you something to work with for that day," one of his nephews said. "'Don't ever forget this,' 'Do this,' 'Try harder at that.' 'Don't give up on that.' And if you needed something, you can go to him and he got you. And that's the way it was because we're a village. I'm gonna try to remember him as a good man. A great man."
