1 dead, 2 injured after fire destroys St. Petersburg home
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A family’s home near 62nd Avenue North and 4th Street North is unlivable after it caught fire around 4:45 on Sunday morning.
"I could hear this popping sound, I don’t know what it was, I got up on my knees and looked through the Venetian blinds and I saw the house was engulfed," said Benito Torres, who lives across the street from the burnt home.
Crews responded quickly thanks to a station being down the road, according to St. Petersburg Fire Rescue spokesperson Captain Garth Swingle. When crews arrived at the burning home, two people were out front.
They were taken to the hospital.
Captain Swingle says they’re going to be okay, but when firefighters were able to go into the home safely after fighting the flames, they found an older man who died.
"It sort of just shows that it’s possible for anybody. Don’t think anybody’s immune to having tragedy happening to them," Capt. Swingle said. "Big thing we really want to reinforce is fire safety. Really make sure you have smoke detectors working so you can get out of the house in time, if you have, if you have other people that may need help getting out of the house, help them out, really have a plan."
A fire inspector spent hours on the property Sunday morning. They’re still trying to figure out what caused this fire.