Wednesday's Internet Edition, September 08, 2010.

An early morning fire last Thursday destroyed this home at 115 Circle Ave., claiming the life of the man who lived there. The state fire marshal’s office is continuing to investigate the blaze. Photo by David Hedges

Louis “Bub” Fields, 54, was claimed in the early morning fire at 115 Circle Ave.

Firefighters called at 2:41 a.m. last Thursday arrived to find the two-story home engulfed in flames.

Spencer-Roane Volunteer Fire Dept. spokesman Lt. Ray Dietz said Fields was found just inside the front door.

“Apparently, he went back inside the house to get his dog,” Dietz said.

The state fire marshal’s office is investigating the blaze, Dietz said, and the cause of the fire has not been determined.

“He was a good man and neighbor,” according to Angel Nichols, who said although she did not know him well, Fields still shoveled the snow away from her car several times this winter.

“He’d help anybody,” she said. “He’d give you the shirt off his back.”

Another neighbor, Jodi Bush, said that although Fields suffered from diabetes and other health problems, he was always doing things for others.

Bush said he shoveled snow for the whole neighborhood.

“He was up and down this street all winter (shoveling snow),” Bush said. “He mowed my yard in the summer and I never even asked him.”

Bush said the fire that took Fields’ life apparently began in the kitchen area.

Bush said Fields and his girlfriend, Tina Hamons, had managed to escape the burning home, but Fields went back inside to look for his two dogs.

“They were more like his kids,” Bush said. “He never came back out.”

Services for Fields were Sunday.

Dietz said 21 firefighters and six trucks responded to the blaze from departments in Spencer, Reedy and Clover. Firefighters remained at the scene until almost noon that day.

The fire marshal’s investigation was continuing this week.