An 88-year-old man was injured and transported to the burn unit at Miami Valley Hospital following a house fire Wednesday afternoon that destroyed his residence.

The fire at 1968 Winterglen Court is believed to have started in the garage, where Beavercreek Battalion Chief Greg Connors said firefighters found the man on the floor.

Clifton Fair was listed in critical condition Wednesday night.

Neighbors said they saw smoke coming from the back of the garage and started pounding on the door. As firefighters arrived, a neighbor was able to kick open a side door and saw the man lying on the ground.

Firefighters pulled Fair out and started emergency medical care for him in the front yard until medics arrived. The first crew on the scene was made up of four firefighters who had been dispatched at about 4:30 p.m. on a report of a smoke detector that was going off, Connors said.

“Our number one job was life safety,” he said. “Our main concern was getting the homeowner out of the house.”

Neighbor Heinz Franz said when he arrived, Fair had already been taken to hospital and he saw fire crews pouring water on the house next door because intense heat from the garage was melting the vinyl siding. He said they then began fighting the fire in the garage.

“As they were focusing on the garage, the flames were already in the attic,” he said. Connors said the fire spread quickly from one end to the other through the open attic.

Fair’s wife was not at home at the time of the fire, but arrived minutes after firefighters. According to Greene County Auditor’s records the three-bedroom ranch has been owned by Clifton Fair since 1992.

Neighbors said Fair was on oxygen because of a medical condition. It is not clear whether he may have been working on a vehicle in the garage, the battalion chief said. Neighbors reported hearing an explosion from the garage which Connors said was likely the tires on a car bursting from the heat of the fire.