Man dies after reentering burning home to rescue forgotten cell phone

Friday, February 28, 2014 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: burning home, cell phone, fire death

(NaturalNews) These days, Americans are increasingly reliant on personal electronics to help us get through our busy lives, but this story should remind us that, at some point, being temporarily inconvenienced by the loss of a device is not worth dying for.

According to the CBS News affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth, a Plano, Texas, man was killed in the early morning hours of Feb. 27, because apparently, he didn't think that he could go on without his cell phone.

As reported by CBS DFW, the man died after running inside of a burning home around 1 o'clock in the morning:

Neighbors called 911 to report the house fire and crews arrived just three minutes later to find the building fully engulfed in flames. A total of three people lived in the home -- the victim, his daughter and his roommate.

"The tragedy here is that the three adults living in the home actually made it out of the home, realized that they had no way to call 911, no phone with them," said Capt. Peggy Harrell with the Plano Fire Department. "So, two of the residents -- two males -- actually reentered the burning home."

'The phone was replaceable'

The man who did not return alive has not yet been identified as of this writing, according to CBS DFW, but reports said he was in his early 70s. No other injuries were reported at the scene, and the cause of the fire, which firefighters extinguished very quickly, has not yet been determined.

Neighbors who were saddened by the man's death said he had been living in the home for more than two decades.

"He could've come to any of the neighbors' houses to call 911," said Nakita Weseman. "I know he realized, probably, he didn't have his cell phone, but that's definitely replaceable. He wasn't."

No truer words.

Harrell recited an oft-repeated axiom used by firefighters everywhere -- never run back into a burning building. She said that, nationally, nine out of 10 people who do that are killed by fire and smoke.

"Fire and smoke conditions change rapidly, and the fast-moving fire and toxic smoke can quickly incapacitate a person and make it impossible to get out," said Harrell.

Sources:

http://dfw.cbslocal.com