Firefighters Injured In Weston Blaze, Dogs Saved
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WESTON (CBSMiami) -- Three firefighters had to be treated for injuries following a residential fire in Weston.
Flames ripped through the large home just before 1:30 p.m. Sunday, September 4th, at 19068 Park Ridge Street.
It took Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue crews more than two hours to put out the blaze, which gutted the home, blew out windows and collapsed the roof.
More than four hours later, they were still dousing the house through a large gaping hole created in the aftermath.
"I was sad. That was it. There's nothing you can do," said resident Daniel Mancini, whose father was awakened from a nap by the fire alarm. "He's fine. But we're all really sad because we've been living here for six years. We're gonna stay at my sister's place for a little bit until things get better."
While his father got out fine, firefighters saved three members of the family still inside.
"When they went in and started knocking down the fire, they found three dogs locked inside a laundry room," said Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue Mike Jachles. "The three dogs were in the laundry room full of smoke. The dogs had soot around their faces. They brought them out, administered oxygen."
About 40 firefighters worked on the home and two were rushed to the hospital suffering from heat exhaustion. A third was taken to the hospital with an arm injury.
"Obviously the heat index is very hot today," said Jachles. "Couple with 50, 60 pounds of firefighting gear and a fire that's upwards of eight, 900 degrees, it's certainly taxing. But we had ample crews. We were rotating our firefighters in, with the air, with the heat, you get about 15 to 20 minutes of work time and then you gotta rotate people out."