BEDFORD – Two local men died in separate incidents in Bedford over the Labor Day weekend, one of which was a rollover car crash that led to the arrest of the victim’s brother on charges of negligent homicide and aggravated driving while intoxicated, according to police and fire officials.

Police said Eric Palangas, a 49-year-old former Manchester firefighter and four-term Democratic state representative, was pronounced dead at the scene of the Saturday evening crash on Kilton Road, just west of Sullivan Drive. He was located inside the overturned 1970 Chevy Chevelle that his brother, Nicholas Palangas, 50, of Weare, had been driving when, police said, he failed to negotiate a curve then lost control, causing the car to roll over and come to rest on its roof.

Meanwhile, a Bedford man in his 50s died Monday night when fire ripped through his home at 23 Elk Drive, a residential road that runs off Route 101 in the southern part of town. Deputy state Fire Marshal Keith Rodenhiser said the man, who hadn’t been identified as of Tuesday evening, was discovered by firefighters in a second-floor bedroom and rushed to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries.

Crews were summoned to 23 Elk Drive around 11 p.m. by a 911 caller reporting the house ablaze. Neighbors told local news outlets that the victim’s mother, with whom he apparently shares the home, ran to a neighbor’s house and called 911.

Rodenhiser said the blaze was by all accounts a basement fire, adding that investigators are concentrating their efforts on that area to determine the cause and point of origin.

Firefighters, alerted that someone may be in the basement, were pushed back by heavy fire and smoke as they tried to enter to conduct a search. They eventually got inside, searched the home and found the man on the second floor.

Online records show the residents of 23 Elk Drive as Norma C. Ouellette and a man in his early 50s named Alan T. Ouellette. Fire officials said the victim’s identity is being withheld pending the results of an autopsy to be conducted at the state Medical Examiner’s office in Concord.

Meanwhile, Nicholas Palangas, the driver of the car in the Kilton Road crash, was held on $50,000 cash bail pending arraignment, which had been scheduled for Tuesday in Merrimack district court.

Police said there was a third person in the car, but provided no information as to his or her identity or any injuries.

Eric Palangas was remembered as a "gentle giant" with a "positive demeanor" who was dedicated to helping people, Manchester District Fire Chief Michael Gamache told local news outlets Tuesday. Palangas joined the Manchester department in 1995, but had to retire in 2004 after suffering a back injury.

Palangas also served four terms in the House of Representatives, the most recent of which was the 2012-14 session. In 2000, he was elected to his first of three consecutive terms, serving through 2006.

The crash remains under investigation by the department’s Technical Accident Reconstruction Team. Police asked anyone with any information related to the crash to contact Bedford police headquarters at 472-5113.

Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 594-6443, dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com or @Telegraph_DeanS.