Broward County

Tyreek Hill’s home incurred $2.3M in damages after kids play with a lighter, officials say

First responders work an active fire inside the Landmark Ranch Estates neighborhood on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2023, in Southwest Ranches, Fla. Davie Fire Rescue crews alongside the Broward Sheriff’s Office worked to put out a two-alarm fire at a home belonging to Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill inside the gated community.
First responders work an active fire inside the Landmark Ranch Estates neighborhood on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2023, in Southwest Ranches, Fla. Davie Fire Rescue crews alongside the Broward Sheriff’s Office worked to put out a two-alarm fire at a home belonging to Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill inside the gated community. mocner@miamiherald.com

Two children playing with a lighter accidentally set ablaze a cloth toy, which a new report reveals was the catalyst of a much larger inferno that engulfed and destroyed a portion of Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill’s $7 million mansion last week.

The massive blaze was difficult to douse, according to the Davie Fire Rescue Department’s incident report, forcing some firefighters to evacuate for more air and use different plans of attack to put it out.

Ultimately, Hill’s mansion incurred $2,342,480 in damages .The two-story residence is comprised of 7 bedrooms and 8.5 baths and sits in the Landmark Ranch Estates gated community near Davie.

Hill was at practice in Miami Gardens at the time of the fire. Two children, his wife and mother were inside the home. No one was injured.

“Although it sucks to see rooms destroyed and everything you worked for destroyed, my main thing was health and making sure my kids are alright,” Hill said at a media scrum in front of his locker room Thursday. “My wife’s good, my mom’s good and my nephews are good. So that’s all that matters.”

At the moment, Hill and his family aren’t staying in the house.

“Right now, it’s a transition for us. But that’s what players do. We find a way to bounce back,” he said. “That’s what life is.”

Black smoke, 120-degree heat and 25 firefighters

During the early afternoon of January 3, two kids playing inside Hill’s home discovered a lighter that they thought was a toy, the report read. It’s unclear whether they were his children.

Upon finding the lighter, the two inadvertently lit a toy on fire. Then, in fear, they threw it into a bedroom closet and ran.

READ MORE: Firefighters determine what caused the blaze in Tyreek Hill’s $7 million mansion

After sifting through the aftermath, a Davie Fire Inspector and State Fire Marshals confirmed that was the fire’s origin and ruled it an accident.

Over the next five hours, about 25 firefighters battled a particularly challenging blaze.

The first unit at the home saw heavy black smoke as they walked upstairs, trying to find the second-floor room from which the fire was emanating, the report read.

They entered several rooms trying to locate the source but were unsuccessful. One room was reading a temperature of 120 degrees with no flames. There was so little air that the firefighters had to step out of the home and alternate turns with other units.

Firefighters were able to discern the blaze may have entered the attic.

Attempts were made to penetrate the ceiling but to no avail. Crews on the roof continued trying to cut through to ventilate the fire, but conditions worsened. And they, too, needed to evacuate.

Eventually, firefighters confined the blaze in the children’s bedroom and doused it.

“Sometimes you have things happen, you’ve got to find a way to adjust to adversity,” Hill said. “So we just had like a slight adversity, and we’re going to find a way to face it.“

This story was originally published January 11, 2024 at 8:31 PM.

Devoun Cetoute
Miami Herald
Miami Herald Cops and Breaking News Reporter Devoun Cetoute covers a plethora of Florida topics, from breaking news to crime patterns. He was on the breaking news team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2022. He’s a graduate of the University of Florida, born and raised in Miami-Dade. Theme parks, movies and cars are on his mind in and out of the office.
Daniel Oyefusi
Miami Herald
Daniel Oyefusi covers the Dolphins for the Miami Herald. A native of Towson, Maryland, he graduated from the University of Maryland: College Park. Previously, he covered the Ravens for The Baltimore Sun.
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