LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- An autistic man is dead after a house fire in the Portland neighborhood. His mother is hospitalized right now for smoke inhalation.

Neighbors tell me Delma Hayse was able to get her son Ernie out the front door safely. They were on the sidewalk when he ran back in. Apparently, home was his security, as well as a little rake he carried around.

He locked the door behind him. Delma could only call for help.

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“I woke up to Delma screaming, and I ran out the door,” says neighbor Cheryl Robbins. “She was in the yard screaming, ‘Get my baby, get my baby.’”

By the time Robbins got outside, the two-story camelback house was fully engulfed. Firefighters responded within five minutes but it was too late.

“A fire doubles in size every 30 seconds. So, you're talking a lot of intense heat and smoke. The biggest issue is the heavy smoke. People get disoriented. It affects their thought process,” says Fire Chief Greg Frederick.

They called him Little Ernie Hayse, even though he was 29 and weighed about 250 pounds. His aunt tells me liver disease when he was one caused brain damage.

Little Ernie was also autistic and legally blind. The family says his parents, Ernie and Delma, dedicated their lives to making him happy.

Ernie, Sr. says he was out getting coffee when the fire broke out. His neighbors and family tried to console him on the sidewalk.

“It's just like losing a family member,” says Robbins.

Little Ernie may have been autistic and had a host of other mental disabilities, but he made a huge difference to neighbors, family and friends who stared in disbelief at the house fire that claimed his life.

Web story produced by Jay Ditzer.

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From The Associated Press:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- A Louisville man died Wednesday when a fire raced through a two-story house on the city’s northwest side, officials said.

Ernest Hayse Jr., 29, died at the scene from smoke inhalation according to Jefferson County Deputy Coroner Rita Taylor.

Firefighters were called to the home at 6:30 a.m. EDT to find the house in flames, Louisville Fire Chief Greg Frederick said.  Investigators were still trying to determine the cause of the blaze, but there was no indication it was intentionally set, he said.

One other person was treated for smoke inhalation, but was not seriously injured, medical personnel at the scene said.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)