COOPER CITY, Fla. – A retired Miami firefighter died in a South Florida house fire on Sunday afternoon, Broward Sheriff's officials said.
The fire broke out around 1:45 p.m. in Cooper City, which is a suburb of Fort Lauderdale. Fire Chief Michael Cane said the home was already engulfed in flames when crews arrived.
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A neighbor had pulled the man from the home and covered him with a tarp before firefighters arrived, Kane said. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.
“It pulls on your heartstrings, because he fell victim to a fire, the same thing he’s been fighting for his entire career,” Kane told the South Florida SunSentinel. “Learning that in this particular case the victim is a member of the public-safety community ... makes the pain all the more personal and palpable.”
The man's name has not been released, but Kane said he was in his late 70s or early 80s, and had been retired for many years.
The state fire marshal is investigating.