What to Know
- An overnight fire engulfed a high rise apartment in Pompano Beach early Tuesday morning and claimed the life of an elderly man.
- Officials from Pompano Beach Fire Rescue said seven people were taken to area hospitals.
An overnight fire engulfed a high rise apartment in Pompano Beach early Tuesday morning and claimed the life of an elderly man inside.
Crews arrived at the Intracoastal Towers, located at 1505 North Riverside Drive just after 1 a.m., where the four alarm blaze brought firefighters from 14 different Broward County departments to help fight it.
Officials from Pompano Beach Fire Rescue said seven people were taken to area hospitals - while confirming that 80-year-old Vincent Andretta died inside his seventh floor apartment near where the fire started. Three residents had to be rescued from balconies.
"He perished in the fire, possibly from smoke inhalation," Pompano Beach Fire Assistant Chief Michael Hohl said.
Amber Webb lives in the apartment just below the one that burst into flames and said she ran out to safety with her young nephew.
"The fire alarms went off, I grabbed him, ran downstairs," Webb said. "Flames were pouring out of the window."
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The owner of the apartment where the blaze started, who said she walked out of her bathroom to see the fire, was able to escape unharmed.
Crews said that there was no working sprinklers inside the apartment where the blaze began, but did say that alarms were working and alerted other residents to evacuate. Around 100 people have been displaced as a result, with the Red Cross on the scene to help those residents.
