Man’s body found in burned Westlake home

City firefighters discovered a man’s body after extinguishing a fire early Monday morning at a Westlake home with “extreme pack-rat conditions,” officials said.

Authorities have not yet identified the body, but neighbors said they believed it was that of a reclusive man who built a tall, wooden fence around his yard soon after he moved in last year.

The blaze in the 500 block of North Westmoreland Avenue was reported shortly after 1 a.m., said d’Lisa Davies, a Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman.

Upon arriving at the scene, firefighters determined after conducting an initial search that no one was inside. Furniture, clothing and other personal items crowded the one-bedroom house and hindered search efforts, firefighters said.

“There was no visibility,” Battalion Chief Jose Cronenbold said. “Fellas were crawling in there because of the heat, trying to get around the furnishing.”

After the fire was put out, firefighters found the burned body in the bedroom. The man was taken to the coroner’s office for an autopsy.

Flames spread to a neighboring house, officials said, but there were no other injuries.

Although the cause of the fire remains unknown, Davies said, the large collection of items stored in the home fueled the blaze and contributed to the roof’s collapse.

Arson investigators are looking into the cause, which is routine when a fatality occurs, Davies said.

Neighbors said the flames appeared to have started in the bedroom.

Damage to the structure was estimated at $150,000.

The dead man’s identity was not released Monday because relatives had not been notified.

Residents who shared the narrow cul-de-sac with the burned house said they rarely spoke to the man who lived there. They described him as in his mid-40s and said he seldom left the house or had visitors.

“He came in and just started building things around him,” said Linda Huynh, whose family lives two houses down. “His sister said he had some kind of memory loss.”

Huynh said the house was always visibly cluttered with items.

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victoria.kim@latimes.com