A deadly blaze at a house in the Hollywood Hills killed a man who neighbors identified as a reclusive member of the famous Rothschild family, according to neighbors.
On Wednesday, firefighters responded to reports of a blaze at a two-story home at 8500 block of Lookout Mountain Avenue. They arrived at around 4:40 p.m. and extinguished the blaze in a little over half an hour, stated the Los Angeles Fire Department.
"I was going up the stairs, and right as I approached the top of the stairs, the flames burst out of the house," stated neighbor Jim Moore.
Firefighters also located one victim of the blaze, an elderly man, inside the home. Neighbors identified him as Will Rothschild, hailing from the wealthy Rothschild family. Law enforcement is yet to confirm his identity, reported ABC7 News.
Neighbors further described him as eccentric, stating that he often spent money brazenly accumulating multiple properties and expensive vehicles.
Some neighbors had never seen him and had previously believed the house was vacant, supporting the idea that he was reclusive. He was believed to live in conditions close to those of a hoarder, which was seemingly confirmed by the fire department.
"Given the fire damage, it's kind of hard to determine how much of that was prior to the fire and how much of it is the building itself that has been demolished by the fire," said Battalion Chief Adam Knabe.
"It is very sad," Moore said. "He was a good guy. A good neighbor."
Originally published on Latin Times.
