Firefighters found a man's body in the rubble of a massive house fire in Rockville, Maryland.
Larry Pagliai, 71, lived in the neighborhood for more than three decades, neighbors said.
"A sweet and gentle man," his brother-in-law Peter McGarry said. "A very private man, easy to talk to. People liked him."
Firefighters were called to his home at 16100 Willow Lane about 10:15 p.m. Thursday. When they arrived, the two-story home was fully engulfed in flames. The fire was so immense firefighters could not enter until it was extinguished.
"It did take about 15-20 minutes to knock down the bulk of the fire, but in that process there was a collapse," Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service spokesman Pete Piringer said.
Once they extinguished the fire, only the home's brick chimneys were left standing.
"It's very likely the fire burned for a while before it was noticed," Piringer said. "In this particular case, there's good indication that the fire had been burning for a while before it was noticed by the neighbors across the street."
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Pagliai, a CPA, lived alone in the house, Piringer said. He was a father of two daughters and a proud grandfather, McGarry said.
"We called his office this morning," McGarry said. "Secretary said, yeah, he hadn't shown up yet."
So family members rushed to his house and learned the worst had happened.
"Distraught," McGarry said. "This is horrible, you know."
Neighbors said they heard a loud bang Thursday night and then they heard a crackling. They looked out their window and saw the house engulfed.
"I saw the fire and it was really engulfed, the second floor, everything," neighbor Juanita Hayden said.
She called 911.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, but no criminal activity is suspected.
"I feel bad," Hayden said. "You don't want anything like that to happen. You don't want to see anybody die."
