Firefighters surround the house at 6 Lakeview Ave. in Lincoln around 9 yesterday morning. It took about a half-hour to bring the blaze under control. The two-bedroom house was severely damaged.

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The Providence Journal / Kathy Borchers

LINCOLN — A 90-year-old man died in an accidental fire Monday morning in a house bordering Lincoln Woods State Park.

John E. Fitzgerald had been in his first-floor workshop shredding paper when his wife, Hazel, 94, says she heard an explosion from the room.

Fitzgerald told Hazel to go out the back door as smoke started to fill the raised ranch house at 6 Lakeview Ave., according to Lime Rock Fire Chief Frank Sylvester.

He did not make it out behind her.

Fitzgerald’s body was found by firefighters on the second floor, at the top of a stairway. Sylvester says that instead of following his wife out, it appears that Fitzgerald went upstairs. He was found with his shoes off, and his walker and a cane on the floor nearby. A fire extinguisher was standing about a foot away from where he lay, Sylvester said.

“My best guess is that he was going for his walker when he was overcome by smoke and heat,” says Sylvester. “His family said he couldn’t walk very well on his own.”

Neighbors took Hazel Fitzgerald in after the fire. She was uninjured, Sylvester said.

“She’s in shock. She has not processed it,” said Linda Hersperger, John Fitzgerald’s daughter.

Rosa D’Antonino, who lives at 5 First St., across from the Fitzgerald house, said she saw white smoke coming from the back of the two-bedroom house. “I thought they were just burning leaves,” she said. The next moment, neighbors were running down the street toward the house.

Some bystanders tried to break down the garage door because that is where the fire appeared to be strongest, she said.

Firefighters were on the scene almost immediately, said neighbors. “It was hard to tell where in the house the fire was coming from. It was every-where,” D’Antonino says.

Sylvester said a passerby called the Fire Department at about 9:05 a.m. By the time firefighters arrived, the house was engulfed in flames. The fire, which gutted the white house with pink shutters, was brought under control within half an hour.

The cause of the fire is unclear. The state fire marshal’s office was at the house yesterday, as were Lincoln police detectives. “I’d say it’s accidental. It’s not suspicious,” said Sylvester.

Family members gathered in front of a neighbor’s house yesterday as police and fire officials worked.

Fitzgerald was a retired watch repairman who lived most of his life in Lincoln.

“He was a people person. He was a loving husband and a wonderful, loving dad,” said Hersperger, his daughter.

He had two daughters, one of whom, Donna West, died this year from cancer. He had four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. He and his wife, who were married 69 years, were active parishioners at Ocean State Baptist Church in Smithfield.

“He never had a bad word to say about anybody,” said Jennifer Goldberger, Fitzgerald’s granddaughter.

The elderly couple lived alone in the house. Hersperger said the couple had purchased the Lakeview home eight years ago after selling the Lincoln home where they had raised their family.

Joan Lewis, who lives next door to the Fitzgeralds at 4 Lakeview Ave., said that Hazel called the house her “dream home.”

Lewis said her son-in-law often cut grass, raked leaves and shoveled the driveway for the couple. John would come out with a six pack of beer and sit on the stoop. The two would have a few drinks after the work was done, Lewis said.

“He was very feisty,” she says. “They were a very nice couple.”

pmarcelo@projo.com