By Steve Beck, Al Novack, Nicole Brewer

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Despite the best efforts of his wife, a disabled man was killed in a house fire in Philadelphia early Tuesday morning.

The fire was first reported at about 4 a.m. inside a home in the 100 block of E. Eleanor Street in the city’s Feltonville section.

The victim was confined to a wheelchair in the dining area of the first floor and called to his wife for help.

“She tried to drag him out, but she has heart problems and she’s not that strong … she dragged him as far as she could,” the victim’s brother-in-law Jules Padrogo said.

Heavy smoke and flames eventually forced the victim’s wife to the porch of the home and the front door somehow locked.

Family members that lived next door tried to help, but the intensity of the fire proved too much.

The fire was placed under control in approximately 45 minutes, but not before the victim was pronounced dead.

Fire officials believe the fire may have been started by a space heater. They also said the home had no working smoke alarms.

This is the ninth fire-related death so far this year in Philadelphia.

A firefighter was taken to a local hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.

The exact cause of the fire remains under investigation.