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NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla. - Tragedy in North Ft. Myers after a mobile home goes up in flames.

Crews are working to put out the blaze as neighbors tell a horrifying story of the homeowner who first escaped the fire before going back in.

A small fire burns outside, what’s left of the North Ft. Myers home has been completely destroyed by flames.  The homeowner was a victim of the blaze.

“I had made him macaroni and cheese and I was going to bring it to him,” neighbor Nancy Smeal said. “I didn't.  I didn't get it over to him.”

Smeal says she had planned to visit her friend and neighbor, Larry, who lived alone in the mobile home next door to hers, but she wouldn't get that chance.

At 5:00 pm Friday night, 9-1-1 calls begin pouring in from neighbors on twin brooks road, who see smoke coming from the home. Nancy recalls their horrid accounts of the incident.

“The neighbors said he came out of the house and they heard an explosion and then Larry went running back in the house again and that's the last they saw of him, and I know he went to get his birds.” Smeal said.

Authorities confirm the neighbors accounts.

“We do have a male victim inside believed to be the resident of the home at this time.” Derral Alveraz said.

Yellow tape surrounds the home that authorities now say is a total loss.  Nancy says the tragedy of it all, is that her friends life could have been spared.

“I’m afraid that's what happened, he fell asleep.” Nancy said.

Authorities aren't giving an exact cause for the fire, but do say it appears to have started in the living room.