SHEFFIELD TWP. — Thomas Johnson was a heck of a country line dancer who loved life, enjoyed good friends and adored the family pets.

In fact, it may have been saving his German shepherd named Rox, and a number of house cats that contributed to his death during a fire Tuesday night in the Detroit Road home he shared with his mother, Sue Johnson.

“Our thinking was that with the fire beginning in the bedroom, he may have gone downstairs to open the (front) door to let the animals out,” Johnson’s brother-in-law Rob Swindell said Wednesday.

A freelance writer for The Chronicle-Telegram, Swindell is married to Johnson’s sister, Gina.

More photos below.

Johnson, 35, died from apparent smoke inhalation and probable carbon monoxide poisoning, according to Lorain County Coroner Dr. Paul Matus, who said he was still awaiting results from some tests before issuing a final report.

Matus said authorities theorized Johnson may have safely made it out of the home only to go back inside in an attempt to save family pets, including the German shepherd.

“That is one hypothesis but we really don’t know why,” Matus said.

Swindell said family members also speculated whether Johnson went downstairs to open the front door to provide an escape route for the dog and four cats, before going back upstairs to try and extinguish the fire and call 911.

“But that’s all guesswork. We’ll never really know,” he said.

The front door was standing open in Tuesday night’s bitterly cold temperatures when two men showed up and attempted to enter to see if anyone was there, but heavy smoke on the second floor prevented them from going up. Johnson was in the house alone when found by firefighters in an upstairs bedroom. He was rushed to EMH Regional Medical Center, where he died.

His mother was working at the time at her job as a waitress at Helen and Kal’s Kitchen, an Avon restaurant, according to Swindell.

Investigators from the State Fire Marshal’s Office ruled Wednesday afternoon that the fire was accidental in nature, and caused by careless disposal of cigarettes in a plastic trash can in Johnson’s bedroom.

Sheffield Township firefighters told investigators there appeared to be evidence that Johnson tried to put the fire out himself when they found a bathtub faucet running and a pan in the floor of the bedroom, according to Shane Cartmill, public information officer for the State Fire Marshal.

Investigators confirmed the home was not equipped with working smoke alarms. Fire damage was confined to the second floor.

All of the pets were accounted for, Swindell said. “We’re trying to create living space for all of them right now. They were (Sue Johnson’s) children.”

Thomas Johnson, who was single, had worked at a number of jobs, including one at a nearby sign company.

“He worked there a couple of years, but lost his job last year when the place went out of business,” Swindell said. “He’d had some tough breaks along the way.”

While he lived most of his life in Ohio, Johnson periodically traveled to Tennessee looking for work.

“Tom really cared about his family,” Swindell said. “He had good friends, enjoyed bowling, and was one of the best local country line dancers” at the height of its popularity in the mid-1990s.

Originally from Chicago, Johnson was also a big Chicago Bears fan.

“He was pretty excited” about the Bears nearly making it to the Super Bowl this year, Swindell said.

Heather Seel, a longtime friend of Tom Johnson, said via Facebook the pair were members of a dance team at the old Boot II country western-themed club in North Ridgeville.

“We were old friends … since we were kids, probably 11 or 12 years old. Tommy knew a lot of people from there (Boot II). He was a regular … everyone loved him and his backflips on the dance floor.”

Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.