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Tyreek Hill house fire began when child found cigarette lighter, per police

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Updated January 4, 2024 at 5:27 p.m. EST|Published January 3, 2024 at 10:15 p.m. EST
Emergency personnel responded to a two-alarm fire at the Southwest Ranches, Fla., home of Tyreek Hill. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/AP)
4 min

A blaze that erupted Wednesday at the home of Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill began with a child playing with a cigarette lighter, according to police.

According to an incident report obtained Thursday from police in Davie, Fla., a child in a bedroom in the home was said to have found an orange lighter in a toy box and to have “started squeezing it.” When the lighter set flame to a toy, per the report, he and another child in the room threw the toy away and ran from the room to alert an adult.

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Davie’s fire marshal told the Associated Press Thursday that an investigation into the cause of the fire is now closed.

Hill left a practice session early Wednesday to return to his home in Southwest Ranches, a Broward County town located approximately 10 miles from the Dolphins’ training facility. Aerial footage taken by local news stations showed Hill arriving in the afternoon and greeting his wife and mother.

Hill’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told reporters at the scene that while some of the player’s family members were at the residence when the fire broke out, they escaped unharmed.

“No one was injured, number one, no pets, so for that we’re very grateful,” Rosenhaus said. “We’re very grateful to the firefighters that put the fire out. Thankfully, the fire was contained to a limited area in the home. Obviously, there’ll be some smoke and water damage.

“It’s very difficult for anybody, obviously, to have your home catch on fire, but Tyreek was handling it, he and his family, with as much poise as you could hope.”

Rosenhaus added that Hill would have no immediate comment on the fire.

An official with the Davie Fire Rescue Department told ESPN the blaze was limited to the upper levels and roof of the home. Firefighters were shown in the aerial footage using chain saws to cut holes in the roof and a firetruck crane to blast water into the mansion.

Emergency personnel and the Dolphins echoed Rosenhaus’s statement that no one was harmed.

After practice at the Dolphins’ facility in Miami Gardens, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa expressed gratitude that the fire only damaged his teammate’s property.

“I think the main thing is his family is safe,” Tagovailoa told reporters. “His loved ones are good. He’s good as well. I know it’s a little cliché to say, but those things like that, part of the house, some of those things can be replaceable. I’m just glad that a lot of his family members are safe.”

“Obviously I’m praying for everybody,” Dolphins wide receiver Braxton Berrios said. “I heard everybody is safe, so that’s amazing. That’s all you can ask.”

Hill bought the residence several weeks after he was traded to the Dolphins in March 2022 from the Kansas City Chiefs and signed a four-year, $120 million contract extension, with $72.2 million in reported guarantees. At an average of $30 million per year, the deal makes Hill the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL. According to Realtor, Hill paid $6.9 million for the 9,300-square-foot mansion, which was built in 2007 and includes seven bedrooms and two guesthouses.

In the footage shot Wednesday, Hill was seen wearing a walking boot on his left leg. He has been dealing with an ankle injury since a Week 14 loss to the Tennessee Titans that caused him to miss a game the next week against the New York Jets. Hill was listed Wednesday as a limited practice participant ahead of a crucial game Sunday night against the Buffalo Bills. In the final game of the NFL’s regular season, 11-5 Miami hosts 10-6 Buffalo in a showdown that will determine which team wins the AFC East and gets the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs.

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