The man who was killed earlier this month when his Marlborough home caught fire in the middle of the night has been identified as 83-year-old Robert Hranek, the Massachusetts State Fire Marshal’s Office said Thursday.
On May 12, Marlborough police and firefighters responded to 11 Hanlon Drive around 4:35 a.m. after a passerby reported the fire, the fire marshal’s office said previously. At the scene, they found the single-family home fully engulfed in flames and fire venting through the roof, but did not hear smoke alarms sounding.
Firefighters soon learned that Hranek — the home’s sole resident — was believed to still be inside the house, the fire marshal’s office said. They found him unresponsive inside the home and carried him out, but he died at a hospital later that morning.
It took firefighters from Marlborough and Southborough approximately 30 minutes to get the fire under control, the fire marshal’s office said. The home sustained “catastrophic” damage, but no other injuries were reported aside from Hranek’s death.
Fire investigators are still determining what caused the fire, but all the factors still being considered are accidental, the fire marshal’s office said Thursday. No working fire alarms have been uncovered from the debris.
