‘Unintentional, accidental’ fire at Tyreek Hill’s Southwest Ranches home caused by child playing with lighter

By Web Staff

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    SOUTHWEST RANCHES, Florida (WSVN) — Davie Fire Rescue officials determined the cause of the fire at Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill’s mansion to be an “unintentional, accidental” incident caused by a child playing with a cigarette lighter.

According to the police report, the fire occurred on the second story on the northwest side of the Southwest Ranches home where the children were playing.

The report goes on to say that one of the children told the officer that he found an orange lighter in his small toy box and “started squeezing it.” The flame from the fire made contact with a toy and a fire began.

Seeing the fire, the report states, the children got nervous, threw the toy and ran out of the room to alert the adults.

Firefighters said that Tyreek Hill’s wife, Keeta Vaccaro Hill, called 911, as she walked into the house.

“I have a fire. Can you help us? A fire’s in the house,” she said in the 911 call. “I don’t know what to do. I need help, OK?”

“I need for you to exit the building, exit the building,” said the dispatcher

Smoke could already be seen coming down the stairs and into the first floor by the time Vaccaro Hill got home.

“Where exactly is the fire?” the dispatcher said.

“It’s upstairs, it’s upstairs,” said Vaccaro Hill.

Firefighters responded to the home on Wednesday shortly after 2 p.m., and extinguished the fire that caused black smoke to billow from the 13,000-square-foot mansion’s roof.

7Skyforce captured aerial footage of the scene, showing firefighters on the roof as they worked to identify the source of the fire. A portion of the roof had to be knocked down to manage the blaze.

On Thursday, cameras showed the large hole in the roof and damage to an upstairs bedroom. Firefighters returned to the scene to ensure there were no hot spots.

The Miami Dolphins released a statement, stating that Hill, in communication with his family, confirmed everyone was out of the house and safe. Hill left practice to address the situation.

Hill’s teammates were just as shocked as he was.

“It’s a sad reality that we have those things to worry about, and seeing him run off the field was kind of a real moment,” said Dolphins wide receiver Braxton Berrios.

“It’s something that as a team, we’ve got to be able to come together and make sure that we can reach out to Tyreek and be human beings with him, right? And make sure that everything is squared away, and we can do everything we possibly can to help our teammates,” aid Dolphins fullback Alec Ingold.

Dolphins’ quarterback Tua Tagovailoa spoke with the media after practice and gave his support for his teammate, saying that the most important thing is his teammate’s safety along with his family.

“I think that would be difficult for, not just my teammates, but for anyone in general to be going through what Tyreek is going through right now,” he said. “I think the main thing is his family is safe, his loved ones are good, and he’s good as well. I know it’s a little clichéd to say, but those things like that, part of the house, some of those things can be replaceable, but I’m just glad that a lot of his family members are safe.”

When Hill arrived at the scene, he hugged his wife as fire crews put out the blaze.

Hill’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, shared that the fire was limited to one room, and Hill remains in good spirits.

“It is very difficult for anybody, obviously, to have your home catch on fire, but Hill was handling it with as much poise as you can hope,” said Rosenhaus.

Family members were reportedly inside the home when the fire broke out, but Rosenhaus did not disclose specific details.

No injuries were reported, and it remains unclear if Hill and his family were able to stay in the home following the fire’s extinguishment.

The home is a seven-bedroom, eight-and-a-half-bathroom mansion, acquired by Hill in 2022 for $6.9 million. Unfortunately, now the west wing of the mansion is damaged.

The fire was so large that it took crews almost an hour after the initial call to have it under control.

“Thankfully, the fire was contained to a limited area in the home, Obviously, there’ll be some smoke and water damage,” said Rosenhaus. “It’s a shocking development, but [Hill] was very poised, and he was thankful that his family was good and that no one was injured.”

It is unclear if the child involved in causing the fire was one of Hill’s own, but investigators confirmed the involvement of a child in the ignition of the fire.

The Dolphins are scheduled to host the Buffalo Bills at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday night, hoping to clinch the NFL’s American Football Conference – Eastern Division. 7News has learned that Hill was not at Dolphins practice on Thursday.

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