The victim of the house fire in Co Clare on Sunday night was yesterday named locally as John Flanagan (39).
The other occupants of the one-storey cottage, Mr Flanagan's parents and brother, were in Dublin when the fire occurred shortly before 7pm.
Supt Éamon Dolan of Ennistymon Garda station yesterday described Mr Flanagan's death as a "tragic accident".
On reports that a cigarette may have caused the fire, Supt Dolan said: "We can't say at this stage as there are only the four walls left of the home. A technical examination of the house is continuing."
Emergency services were called to the scene on the Kilfenora to Kilshanny Road at Lisdoony East at 7.10pm on Sunday following an emergency call from a neighbour of Mr Flanagan's.
A postmortem on Mr Flanagan's body was conducted at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick yesterday.
Supt Dolan said DNA samples would be needed to make a formal positive identification of the victim's body, which could take a number of days.
Yesterday, local councillor Martin Lafferty (Ind) said: "This is an awful tragedy. John is a member of a very well respected family in north Clare and all are hard workers. They are very nice people. The community are numbed over what has happened."
Yesterday, the National Safety Council confirmed that Mr Flanagan's death was the 12th fatality as a result of fire this year; last year, 40 people lost their lives in fires.
The council yesterday appealed to the public to install smoke alarms in their homes if they do not already have them.
National Safety Council spokesman Brian Farrell said: "An average of 50 people lose their lives in domestic fires every year in Ireland. Sadly, some of these could have been prevented if a working smoke alarm had been installed in the home.
"Smoke alarms are the first line of defence against fire fatalities and international research shows that a working smoke alarm reduces the risk of death in a fire by nearly 50 per cent.
He said: "An analysis of the 39 fire fatalities which occurred in 2004 reveals that where the presence of a smoke alarm could be established, it was found that in 9 out of 10 cases there was either no smoke alarm, or if there was one, it wasn't working."