Smoke pours from a burning home early Tuesday morning on Champion Hill Road near Muncy Valley, where a man's body was recovered in the basement.

MUNCY VALLEY — One person is confirmed dead following an early morning house fire Tuesday on Champion Hill Road in Davidson Township, Muncy Valley Fire Chief Kody Wells said.

“The house was engulfed in flames when firefighters reached the scene,” he said.

“We could see an orange glow through the fog about a half a mile away,” he added.

Volunteer firefighters were dispatched to the fire scene, four miles south of here, about 2:15 a.m.

Entering the home was impossible,

because “we already had partial collapse of the structure upon arrival,” Wells said.

The bulk of the fire was knocked down in about an hour.

Radiant heat from the blaze set fire to one side of a garage, about 20 feet away, but firefighters quickly doused the flames before they could damage two vehicles and other possessions in the building, Wells said.

The victim, an adult male, was found about 7 a.m. in the basement, where the entire first floor had collapsed, Wells said.

A mini excavator was used to clear rubble out of the way so firefighters could get inside and recover the body, he added.

Firefighters stretched nearly 1,800 feet of hose from a pond in order to get water on the fire, Wells said.

Sullivan County Coroner Wendy Hastings along with Chief Deputy Coroner Michelene Scott and the state police were dispatched to the scene. The cause of the fire and the man’s cause of death remained under investigation. No identity of the victim has been released as officials continued to work at reaching family members.

Besides Muncy Valley, firefighters from Eagles Mere, Dushore, Laporte, Mildred, Forksville, Hillsgrove, Picture Rocks, Unityville and Hughesville responded to the blaze.