GREAT KILLS — An elderly hoarder was found dead after a fire tore through her home Monday morning, NYPD officials said.
The woman, who lived there by herself, was found dead after the fire broke out in a Driggs Street home, near Wiman Avenue, about 4 a.m., an NYPD spokesman said.
She was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
"The whole thing was fully engulfed," said FDNY Battalion Chief Tom Solimeo. "There was a lot of clutter so it took a long time."
The blaze also scorched the side of Anthony Fezza, 49, who tried to put out the fire himself with a garden hose when he was woken up by the flames.
"I ran outside and I started hosing," said Fezza, who sells commercial baking equipment. "I just didn't know what to do."
A building next door was also scorched on Driggs Avenue. (DNAinfo/Nicholas Rizzi)
Firefighters eventually put out the blaze at 7:01 a.m., and nine responders received minor injuries fighting it, including one with burns to the face, officials said.
"It was going on for a long time," Solimeo said.
The fire destroyed the back porch of the home and most of the inside, Solimeo said. The second floor of the home partially collapsed and firefighters couldn't find the staircase leading up to it.
Fezza said the elderly woman lived alone, rarely came outside and had giant piles of belongings inside the house.
"She was a hoarder," said Fezza, who lived next door since 1999. "She had piles that were 3, 4 feet high."
Fire marshals will determine what sparked the blaze, but investigators believe it was just an accident, an NYPD spokesman said.
Solimeo said they found kerosene tanks inside the home, but wasn't sure if that's what caused it or they just fueled the flames.
