A man has been pronounced dead after a fire broke out at a residence in Mississauga.

Peel Regional Police say they responded to reports of a house fire in the area of Fifth Line West and Dundas Street West around 11:45 a.m.

One person was found without vital signs, Peel paramedics said. Mississauga Fire Services later confirmed the victim had died at the hospital.

“It’s a tragedy when we have something like this happen in our community,” Mississauga Fire Services Platoon Chief Alan Hills told reporters Friday evening. “We learned that the resident at the fire address today passed away.”

Neighbours identified the victim as 77-year-old Jack Shimano.

Retired firefighter Robin Wight, who lives across the street, told CTV News Toronto he was one of the first people on scene at the fire. He noticed the heavy smoke and ran to the home.

“I opened up the side door. Couldn’t get in because of the smoke. So I got on my knees to call out Mr. Shimano’s name. Didn’t answer. I called out a second, but he still didn’t answer.”

Wight ran back to his own home to call 9-1-1, passing mailman Reggie Santos on the way. Santos also went up to the home on fire and started to bang on the window, looking for Shimano.

“Smoke was just billowing everywhere, out of the roof, chimney, windows,” he said.

“I went through one door, smoke came out. I ran around to the other window and more smoke came out.”

Hills commended Wight’s fast thinking.

“Whenever we have our residents be able to call 9-1-1, sometimes when people are unable to because of their condition inside, that went a long way to be able to help get the crews on scene,” Hills said.

The two-alarm blaze was put out within an hour.

Both Santos and Wight said they heard the smoke alarm going off when they approached the home. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

The Ontario Fire Marshall is now investigating the incident.

Roads in the area were closed but have since reopened.

-With files from CTV News Toronto's Janice Golding