A man was killed in a Columbia house fire early Friday morning.

According to neighbors, the fire began about 5 a.m. at the home of Wan Soo Hong in the 7200 block of Riding Hood Circle.

As flames shot out of windows from the second floor and attic of the Victorian-style house overlooking Lake Elkhorn, two neighbors who work as police officers for the U.S. Justice Department broke first-floor windows to get inside, according to witnesses. They managed to rescue Hong's two dogs, but were forced out of the home as flames moved down the staircase from the second floor.

Firefighters put the fire out by 6:30 a.m., Howard County police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said.

Because there was a fatality, police and fire officials were investigating whether foul play was involved.

Llewellyn said authorities would not release the victim's identity until his family was notified.

The Justice Department officers ran from door to door, ringing doorbells to alert neighbors of the raging fire.

Nancy Thompson, who lives around the corner from Hong on Wedding Ring Way, called the officers "the real heroes."

"None of us knew what was going on; a lot of the houses were in danger because the backs of the houses are very close together," said Thompson, the principal at Talbot Springs Elementary School in Columbia. "The embers were really flying."

Thompson said that the snow that remained on the roof from the recent snowstorms might have saved her house from catching on fire.

Susan Defibaugh, who has lived in the Owen Brown neighborhood for 11 years, called the homeowner, who lived alone, a "wonderful neighbor."

Neighbors said there is a bamboo stand behind Hong's home, and he often used the trees to help children in the neighborhood build forts. Defibaugh said he retired from a job with Rhee Bros. Inc., a Korean-owned food distributor based in Columbia.

Hong was often seen walking around the lake with his dogs.

Thompson said she called her two grown children about the fire and the man's death.

"They said [Hong] was the one who gave them the real big candy bars at Halloween," Thompson said.

The Howard County Council is considering requiring the installation of sprinklers in new single-family houses. The county has required sprinklers for townhouses since 1992. Hong's home was built in the mid-1980s, though he bought it in 1994, according to state tax records.

The proposal has the support of firefighters, but it has drawn opposition from builders.