One person dead after house fire in Westampton

WESTAMPTON, New Jersey (WPVI) -- The Westampton Police Chief Brian Ferguson said one person is dead after a house went up in flames on the 500 block of East Pennington Drive Saturday evening.

Police said they found the person dead on the first floor near the front of the home, and now they are trying to contact the next kin.

Neighbors said it was a tragic sight to see as heavy flames and thick smoke billowed from the house.

First responders arrived around 6:20 p.m., and it was all hands on deck from several fire departments including Westampton, Burlington Township, Mount Holly, and Medford.

Ferguson said not only did firefighters have to battle the blaze, but extreme hoarding conditions made it difficult to get through the front door.

"This house was marked in our system as a hoarding condition house so the officers responding with the fire department would know to use caution when entering that residence, so I just walked by the front door," said Ferguson. "You couldn't even push the front door open. That's how much material you could see from outside of house."

"It's pretty scary," said Eric Wehnau who is a neighbor. "It's scary to see a house on fire and this close to the holidays and everything. The flames were coming right out of the rooftop and the whole front bay window busted open. The whole front door is busted open. They're just squirting the water in."

Police said crews will dismantle the house.