Investigators find cause of fire at Tyreek Hill’s home

Investigators find cause of fire at Tyreek Hill’s home

Investigators have determined the fire that damaged the home of Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill on Wednesday was an accident caused by a child playing with a lighter, The Associated Press reported on Thursday.

Firefighters responded to the 9,000-square-foot house in Southwest Ranches, Florida, on Wednesday, while the former West Alabama standout was at practice at the Dolphins’ facility in Miami Gardens, Florida, about 17 miles away.

“No one was injured No. 1, no pets, so for that we’re very grateful,” Hill’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told reporters at the scene. “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.”

Meeting with reporters in the Dolphins’ locker room on Thursday, Miami fullback Alec Ingold said Hill had to “bolt” from practice after getting the news on Wednesday.

“Man, it’s a shock, right?” Ingold said. “It catches you off-guard a little bit. You don’t think that it’s ever going to happen to you until it does. It’s something 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 and make sure everything is squared away and we can do everything we possibly can to help our teammate. That’s the human element of this locker room. I think that’s what special about this locker room is we actually do care about each other outside of the building. We’ve been there, we’ve taken care of one another, so it’s just another step in being good teammates and human beings to one another in this organization.”

Miami’s injury and participation report indicated Hill did not practice on Thursday for personal reasons.

Hill leads the NFL in receiving yards with 1,717 on 112 catches in 15 games for the Dolphins this season. For the second straight season, Hill has broken the franchise single-season record for receiving yards and is the only player in NFL history to record 1,700 or more in two seasons.

Miami has clinched a spot in the AFC postseason field, but the Dolphins need to beat the Buffalo Bills in the final game of the NFL’s 2023 regular season to lock up a home game in the first round as the AFC East winner. If Miami loses to Buffalo, the Dolphins will go into the playoffs as a wild-card qualifier and play on the road.

The Dolphins and Bills kick off at 7:20 p.m. CST Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. NBC will televise the game.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.