NORFOLK, Va. — Claude Ranger woke from his sleep Thursday morning to find his longtime neighbor's home was on fire.
"I saw red flashing lights and I went outside and it was just flaming up as I went out there," she said.
One person was killed in the fire in the 3500 block of Somme Avenue. Another person was displaced, according to Norfolk Fire officials. The fire started around 1 a.m., and fire investigators have not yet determined the cause.
Stephanie Ramsey, a spokesperson for the fire department, said the person appeared to have died because of the fire.
"It was fast," said Ranger.
Firefighters could say that they found a victim dead in the home, but they haven't shared the person's name yet. But longtime neighbors say a couple who lived at the home were very well known in the community.
The neighbors were shaken up.
“We weren’t best friends but we were good neighbors for years," said Ranger.
Ranger has lived in the community for 50 years and said he'd lived next to the couple for at least 20 years.
He said they made their presence known in the neighborhood as very positive people. They took an active interest in the community, and served as the "sort-of neighborhood watch."
“He would walk around with an ax and trim the bottoms of these crape myrtle trees and he would just trim them when people wouldn’t," said Ranger. "He would just do that on his own.”
A group of neighbors is talking about ways to support the family, because they believe the couple would do that for anyone else on the block.
“If this had been one of us I am sure they would both be over here or anywhere else," he said.
One firefighter needed to be sent to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital after helping put the fire out, for heat-related injuries. Around 8:30 a.m., Ramsey said the firefighter had been released from the hospital.
As of Thursday morning, crews were still investigating the fire's cause.