FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A Fort Lauderdale man is sharing his story, hours after he survived a fire at his high-rise unit that left his longtime roommate dead.
Keith Rush spoke with 7News on Friday after he was released from the hospital.
“The flame was so ignited, I didn’t know he was in there,” said Keith Rush.
Rush and 93-year-old Howard Perkins lived on the ninth floor of the Ocean Summit Condominiums on Galt Ocean Drive.
Rush said he had fallen asleep in a bedroom while Perkins was in the living room.
“My friend was filling out property tax stuff. The light fell on his sweater and chair, they caught fire, smoke detector woke me up,” he said.
Rush said he raced downstairs to notify the receptionist, not knowing his friend was still in the living room.
“I came down here thinking he was here, but he wasn’t, he was still up there burned to death,” said Rush.
The receptionist spoke with 7News earlier on Friday.
“I could smell smoke in the hallway, so I went down to 911 and I could see black residue on the door,” she said.
“Yeah I got a cut here, blister, I didn’t know he was in the chair, was gonna take chair cushion and put the flame out,” said Rush.
Firefighters are still trying to determine exactly what happened.
The fire did not spread to any other units, but like many other buildings built in the 1960s, Ocean Summit is not equipped with a sprinkler system.
Florida law now requires high-rise condos to install them before 2024, but lawmakers have pushed back that deadline over the years.
“This is one of the buildings that has already put in their plan. They have a safety plan approved by my office,” said Fort Lauderdale Fire Marshal Jeff Lucas. “You could look at a sprinkler head as being a firefighter, in every 21 square feet of your house, so they’re spread out evenly, you know, spread out in the corridors.”
Those improvements will come too late for Perkins.
“It’s frustrating to see loss of life when it can be prevented,” said Lucas.
Firefighters said they are conducting tests in an attempt to figure out burn patterns in the condo unit and determine how the fire started. They believe it was accidental.
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