Man found dead in Milwaukee fire

A 71-year-old man was found dead Thursday in a fire on Milwaukee's northwest side, a Fire Department official said.

The fire was reported shortly after 7:30 a.m. in the basement of a commercial building in the 8400 block of W. Lisbon Ave., Deputy Chief Terry Lintonen said.

Firefighters who arrived on scene were told someone was still inside the building. They encountered heavy smoke when they entered the basement and found the man who lived there, Lintonen said.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene and the Red Cross was assisting two occupants who lived in an apartment on the second floor of the building, though no damage estimates were available, he said.

There were no working smoke detectors in the building and the cause of the blaze remained under investigation, Lintonen said.

Last month, two children were killed and their father was hospitalized after fire tore through an apartment on the city's northwest side.