A fire burst out Saturday morning in an apartment in SoHo, killing its tenant, according to authorities.

The fire burst in an apartment of six story rental building on the 146 Sullivan Street, between West Houston and Prince Streets.

The apartment that caught fire was at the third floor and it belonged to Richard Seidel, 61, who used to be a film archivist and musician.

According to his neighbors, he lived alone in his apartment, Daily News informs.

He was found dead just minutes after the fire had started around 2 a.m.

The fire was reported by one of his neighbors, George Hendricks, 44, who lives with his father in the apartment above Seidel. He smelled the smoke that was coming up from under the sink. He called 911.

Firefighters arrived at 2:07 a.m. and by 2:42 a.m. the fire was under control, the New York Times reports.

Seidel was living in the building since the 1970s. Neighbors described him as a quiet person and as a person who smoked a lot.

Investigators are saying that probably the deadly fire was caused by a cigarette.

Ethan Reece, who works for the building's management company, said that Seidel was a good person and that in his youth he traveled around Europe.

Reece said: "He lived a full life and saw the world. It wasn't as if he just stayed in this apartment."