By Tom Jackman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 6, 2008

A 48-year-old Springfield man was killed in a house fire early yesterday, and investigators told his family that he might have become disoriented as he tried to escape the smoke and flames engulfing his small Cape Cod house.

Billy Lee Clark died inside the home in the 800 block of Flint Street in the Pohick area of Fairfax County. Firefighters found his body next to a storm door that led outside to his driveway. He was the second person killed by fire in Fairfax this year.

Clark was a Fairfax native, born and raised in the Windsor Estates neighborhood of the Kingstowne area, said his sister, Elaine Crawford.

Clark had visited his parents Tuesday night and had planned to have breakfast with them yesterday before meeting another sister, Crawford said. Family members gathered outside the fire-ravaged house to mourn and commiserate.

"He was just a good, fun-loving guy," Crawford said. He worked as a handyman and carpenter, picking up work wherever he could, she said.

"He was a super sensitive, kind-hearted person," said his friend Patty Brown. She said he enjoyed repairing statues and artworks for friends and family.

Fire officials said they were called to the blaze about 1:20 a.m., and firefighters encountered heavy fire and smoke from the front of the one-story home. They sounded a second alarm and brought the fire under control in about 15 minutes, then located Clark's body. An autopsy revealed that Clark died of smoke inhalation, Lt. Raul Castillo said.

Fire investigators determined that an electrical malfunction caused the fire, which blew a hole in the front of the house and melted some vinyl siding. Damage was estimated at $50,000.