87-year-old man dies from smoke inhalation after house fire in Oakland County, deputies say

An 87-year-old man is dead, and his wife was injured, in the aftermath of a house fire Wednesday evening in Oakland County, Michigan. 

An emergency call reporting the fire was placed at 6:30 p.m., with the Oakland County Sheriff's Office and Independence Township Fire Department both responding to the call in the 7000 block of Clintonville Road, Independence Township. 

The victim was Larry Dean Goforth, who, deputies said was in a wheelchair. 

His wife, age 72, told first responders that she lost sight of him amid the dense smoke. She then got out of the house. 

First responders twice tried to get inside the home from different locations to rescue the man, "but were driven back by thick smoke, intense heat and flames each time," the sheriff's office said. 

They were eventually able to reach Goforth and get him out. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead on Wednesday evening. 

Deputies said an autopsy on Thursday determined that the cause of death was smoke inhalation. 

His wife was taken to a hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation, and released on Thursday. 

The cause and origin of the fire remain under investigation by the Sheriff's Office Fire Investigations Unit.