Updated: Patchogue Man Killed in House Fire

A 56-year-old Patchogue man was killed Thursday morning in a fire at his Howard Street home, police said.

Brian Nolan was pronounced dead at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center following the fire, which began shortly before 11 a.m., police said. 

Fire officials told Patch that one neighbor, a New York City firefighter, tried to enter the home, located just south of Sunrise Highway, before the first engine arrived but he was knocked back by the flames. The neighbor was treated for minor injuries, officials said.

The blaze, which started on the second floor of the home, was under control after about 20 minutes, officials said.

No one else was inside the home at 35 Howard St. at the time of the blaze and a preliminary investigation suggests the cause of the fire was non-criminal, police said. 

The and North Patchogue fire departments, as well as the Patchogue Ambulance Company responded to the scene. 

Neighbors remembered Nolan as a kind, quiet man.

"In passing by, he would always say hello," said Pat, a neighbor who did not give her last name. "He knows my boys, my kids and he would say hi to them. He was a neighborhood-guy."

The Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad and Arson Section detectives are continuing to investigate.