A FUNDRAISING campaign has been started for the family of a 90-year-old man who was found dead following a house fire in Malton.

Firefighters were called to the blaze at a bungalow in Fitzjohn Close, off Rainbow Lane, at about 7.30am on Friday.

A police spokesman said: “A 90-year-old man was found by firefighters inside the property. He was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.”

Police have yet to release the name of the man, and are looking into the cause of the fire.

The spokesman added: “Police and fire investigators will carry out a full examination of the property to determine how it started.”

In the wake of the fire, a neighbour has started raising funds for the man’s family. Leoni Lenaghan lives two doors away and was herself the victim of a flat fire several years ago in Norton that resulted in the death of two jockeys.

She said: “The help I received was phenomenal and from people who didn’t even know me. I know first-hand the effect it has and so wanted to give back and help in some kind of way through the support of the community.”

Ms Lenaghan has set up a Just Giving page for funds that the family can use “in any way that helps”.

She added: “I just wanted to help in some way. I have set up a small target on the Just Giving page, but obviously the more we can raise the better.”

She and a friend, Chelsea Scott, are also in the process of trying to organise a fundraising evening.

Fire crews from Malton and Pickering, as well as an aerial ladder from Scarborough were at the scene. The street was closed to vehicles for much of the morning, and not reopened until about noon.

Kathleen Morley, who lives nearby, said that she and her husband were alerted to the fire by the sound of sirens.

She said: “I thought they were going along the bypass at first, but then I saw the blue lights.

“At first we just saw smoke, then the fire appeared. It’s so sad.”

Another neighbour, Phillipa Botterill, who lives in Fitzjohn Close, said: “We were alerted by the sirens at about 7.45am. The flames were coming out of the roof, I would say about five foot high. It was horrible.”

For more information on Ms Lenaghan’s fundraising campaign, go to crowdfunding.justgiving.com/leoni-lenaghan