BUFFALO, N.Y. -- James Austin, who died Thursday evening in a Kermit Avenue house fire, was well-known around the neighborhood as someone dependable.
"He was the man who helped me catch my dog, Bullet," said Timothy Chatmon.
"He was a neighborhood handyman, cleaning man. He was a standup guy. I take my hat off to him, you know, and nobody should have to die in no fire," said Brian T.
Austin, 63, moved to Buffalo from Florida four years ago. He quickly met Drusilla Harris, and there wasn't a day that went by where they weren't together.
"The man had a heart that was righteously gold. He read the Bible with me every single day for the last 3 1/2 years without fail," Harris said.
Harris says Austin loved to cook, and added he was quite the dancer.
"All summer long, this porch was our dancing floor, and we danced night and we danced day on this porch. People riding up and down Bailey would stop and blow. And he's say 'Old school, old school.' He was a great guy," Harris said.
Harris says Austin treated her seven grandchildren like his own. Each one of them knows by heart the special knock on the door he used every time he came over.
"That's the only way he knocked on my door. I called him my drummer boy," Harris said.
Harris' final memory of Austin is a promise now kept.
"He said 'Dru, when it's time to go, (snaps fingers) that's the only way I'm leaving, because Dru, I'm here for the duration. I'm never going nowhere.'"
Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield says the fire remains under investigation, but there is no indication at this time that it is suspicious in nature.