Man found dead in Hollywood Hills home engulfed by flames

A fire broke out Wednesday at a two-story home in the Hollywood Hills West neighborhood of Los Angeles, where firefighters later discovered a deceased elderly man, officials confirmed to KTLA.

Los Angeles Fire Department crews responded to reports of the fire at 8551 W. Lookout Mountain Avenue around 4:45 p.m. this afternoon.

Neighbor Jim Moore noticed the smoke coming from the house and called 911 before rushing in with his own water hose.

“When I got to the top of the stairs, the windows exploded,” he told KTLA’s Carlos Saucedo. “The entire portion of the building was enveloped.”

The narrow streets and the house’s hillside location made access a challenge for firefighters.

“A lot of the difficulty came from the location of the house on the hillside,” LAFD Battalion Chief Adam Knabe told KTLA. “It is quite far from the road, there are steep stairs behind the houses, so access to install a hose line was difficult.”

Aerial footage of the firefight captured by Sky5 showed a heavy presence of firefighters on the narrow, hilly street, while a crowd of neighbors and onlookers stood nearby.

The homeowner, described only as an elderly man, was discovered in his home after crews knocked down the fire. However, it is unclear whether the man died as a result of the fire or beforehand.

Neighbors told KTLA that the homeowner, who lives alone, is in his 80s and his health has been deteriorating. No one had seen him for at least a few days.

“It’s really sad,” Moore said. “He was a good man, a great neighbor. We haven’t really seen him much lately because he’s so old and I was a little worried.”

While the cause of the fire is currently unknown, fire investigators were on scene, a required protocol when there is a fatality.