Crews are bringing in heavy machinery in hopes of determining whether anyone was caught in an early morning fire in Vancouver.

The home in the 700 block of West 23rd Avenue went up in flames around 3:30 a.m. PT. When firefighters arrived, the one-storey home was completely engulfed in flames.

Vancouver Fire Captain Gabe Roder said the house was so cluttered, crews were unable to get inside.

"There's a tremendous amount of stuff in all parts of the home and it's deemed unsafe for us to enter this home at this point in time," Roder said.

"The fire has been extinguished but we have not been able to gain access to the home ... so we've contacted a structural engineer and once he deems what the structure of the home is then we'll enter the house based on his recommendations."

'Rats dancing in the windows'

Neighbours say the homeowner, Jean Chalmers, collected a lot of stuff and the home was often packed to the ceiling with clutter.

"She was a bit of a hoarder — everything had value to it so she hung on to it," said Luigi Fabbiano, who has lived in the neighbourhood for 18 years.

"It's always been like that. You could see the rats dancing in the windows there."

Chalmers now lives in a senior's home and her adult son has been caring for the house.

It's not clear if he was inside the home at the time of the blaze, but one witness reported hearing a man trapped inside crying for help when the fire broke out.

An excavator has been called to dig out the mess and any possible victims, leaving Fabbiano questioning the city's role in dealing with the hoarding.

"The city has been called out a few times and nothing has ever been done," he said.

Fire officials say the city never flagged the home to them, but say city bylaws don't give them enough power to force someone to clean up inside their home.

Because hoarding is tied to mental illness, fire officials say, health officials and family members also bear some responsibilty.

The cause of the fire has not been determined.