An elderly man killed in a fire at a Hayward home on Saturday morning has been identified Sunday by the Alameda County coroner's bureau as 82-year-old Juan Gonzalez.
Shortly after 3 a.m. Saturday, firefighters responded to a report of a home fire in the 23400 block of Fuller Avenue, blocks north of West Winton Avenue near Interstate Highway 880, Hayward fire spokesman Don Nichelson said.
Gonzalez tried to escape the single family home through the front door with the aid of his daughter and a neighbor, but became stuck on furniture, Nichelson said.
"It was fully involved by the time we got there, in three minutes," Nichelson said. "It was a very fast-moving fire."
Due to high heat and smoke from the fire, Gonzalez's daughter and neighbor left him inside the home where he perished, according to Nichelson.
"He almost made it," Nichelson said.
The blaze was knocked by 3:16 a.m. and destroyed the home, firefighters said.
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The neighbor was treated for second-degree burns on his hand and victim's son was treated for minor burns, the spokesman said.
The Gonzalez's son and daughter had both lived with their father in the home, he said.
Fire investigators believe the fire was touched off by accident, he said.
It appeared to have started in the son's bedroom from a plugged-in electrical cord that "popped," Nichelson said.
The blaze spread quickly in part due to oxygen flowing from tanks in the room being used by the son that accelerated the fire, he said.
