HAMDEN, Conn. — A 59-year-old man is dead following a house fire in Hamden, officials said.
Around 10:20 p.m. Tuesday, multiple phone calls came into the Hamden Fire Department reporting a fire at a home on Hill Street.
When crews arrived, they found heavy fire in the breezeway and garage that was spreading into the house.
Officials said at least two people inside the home were able to get out safely - one through the front door, another through a bedroom window. They told first responders that someone was still inside.
Crews worked themselves into the home and found 59-year-old Frank Mangiero dead inside the living room.
"He was a great person, a great man, a great father," his son Jeff Mangiero told FOX61. "I always hung out with him. I always considered him a best friend to hang out with. He would always be there for me."
Jeff Mangiero, who wasn't home at the time of the fire, said his brother had woken up and escaped the house along with his father's girlfriend.
He went on to say that his father for some reason did initially escape but went back inside to stop the fire and didn't make it out.
"You just can't bear to look at it," said Jeff Mangiero, while outside the damaged home.
Jeff Mangiero called his father a great role model.
“He was a great man. He was a great person at heart, too. Always was, always will be. He was always there for not only me and my brother but also his girlfriend and even my mother who he divorced. He was always there for anybody,” he said.
Two family pets also died in the fire. The brother and girlfriend were reportedly treated at Yale-New Haven Hospital for smoke inhalation.
The Hamden Fire Marshal’s Office, Hamden Police Department, and Connecticut State Police Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit were called to the scene to investigate the cause and origin of the fire.
Officials said that the breezeway between the garage and the home was the primary area of focus. The investigation is ongoing.
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