SEABROOK, N.H. — One man was killed and four others narrowly escaped with their lives when fire ripped through a Collins Street home early yesterday morning.

Charles "Chaz" Hewitt, 20, of 41 Collins St., died in the blaze that consumed the two-story house he lived in with his friends.

Making it out after waking to find the home ablaze were John Sears, 21, Matthew Hetticher, 21, and Kaleb Brown, 21, all of 41 Collins St., and Joseph Wood, 19, of 944 Lafayette Road. None of the survivors were hospitalized, although some were treated for smoke inhalation at the scene.

The house, owned by Kaleb Brown's father Robert Brown, is a black, charred ruin, attesting to the heat of the blaze and the speed at which it tore through the house.

Hewitt worked at Brown's Lobster Pound and Restaurant, a Seabrook landmark owned by Bruce Brown Sr., and he had quickly become a favorite with his co-workers.

"I don't think I ever saw him without a smile on his face," Bruce Brown Jr. said. "I'm just so upset about this boy's death. He was such a nice young man."

According to others, Hewitt's good nature endeared him to many at Brown's in the short time he was there.

"You know, you didn't have to talk to him very long to realize what a nice guy he was," said Dwight Souther, who worked with Hewitt. "He'd do anything you asked him to do. And when he saw me with my 1-year-old son once, he came over and played with him. You don't find a lot of guys that age who'll take time with young children like that. But Chaz did. This is awful."

According to Deputy police Chief Lee Bitomske, a number of 911 calls came in from neighbors and the home's occupants just before 4 a.m. yesterday. Police and firefighters reached the scene within moments, he said, and found the building fully involved.

"When we got here, there was heavy smoke everywhere and flames were coming out of three sides and the rear of the house on the first floor," Seabrook fire Capt. Stanley Saracy said. "We heard in the commotion from the bystanders that there could still be one person left inside the building. They said on the second floor in the bedrooms."

But firefighters didn't find anyone on the second floor during their initial search. It wasn't until they were knocking down the flames on the first floor that they found the victim.

"He had probably been overcome from the smoke. That can happen very quickly," Saracy said.

Hewitt's body was taken to Concord, said Seabrook fire Chief Jeff Brown, where an autopsy will be performed sometime tomorrow.

Seabrook police and fire officers and the state fire marshal searched the fire scene for hours yesterday, collecting evidence that could lead them to determine the cause of the blaze.

According to the fire marshal, the fire started on the rear exterior porch of the home. But determining a cause will take time, according to Brown.

"We don't know anything yet," Brown said. "We've just started digging around. It's too soon to know the cause. This is the first fatal fire we've had in town in about eight years, I think."

Brown said Seabrook cleared the station to fight the fire, sending engines and its ladder, along with an ambulance. The Hampton and Amesbury fire departments provided mutual aid.

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