FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Fire rescue crews have extinguished a fire that broke out at a Fort Lauderdale home that had several luxury cars inside its garage.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue units were called to the scene of a two-alarm fire along the 1600 block of Southeast 12th Court, at around 8:50 p.m., Tuesday.
In a video shared on Twitter, crews could be seen trying to cut into the home’s garage using an electric saw.
FLFR crews are on scene of a working fire in a large residential home at 1631 SE 12 CT. A second alarm has been requested. No reported injuries at this time. #Media pic.twitter.com/gYtiUKIMpQ
— FLFR PIO (@FLFR411) May 22, 2019
Fire officials said they have not transported any victims to the hospital and that the homeowner was at his second home at the time of the fire.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Stephen Gollan said, “Shortly after arrival, seeing the base of the fire load that was on scene, the incident commander requested a second alarm, which is a duplication of the first-alarm assignment, which brought over 50 firefighters to the scene.”
The home had several expensive cars parked inside of the garage, including a Tesla Model X SUV, a Bentley Mulsanne sedan and a Nissan GT-R, that were part of homeowner Tim Schmidt’s collection he is well known for.
In total, the car collection was valued at more than $1 million.
He and his wife share the $2 million home and are said to only be in town six months out of the year.
Fire officials said the luxury cars, two golf carts, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and two jetskis were destroyed. The losses total up to $1 million, officials said.
“There are so many cars, I don’t know which cars they left here and which cars they shipped back. They do this seasonally, every six months they bring in a load of different cars. They’re very pricey cars, Bugattis, etc.,” said neighbor China Niemann. “He’s a collector, and he does display them. It’s really sad.”
Schmidt regularly posts pictures of his Bugattis, Lamborghinis and other eccentric cars on his Instagram where he is known as “Hapyhipi.”
Officials said the garage contained several lifts inside, which allowed the homeowner to park vehicles both next to and on top of each other.
“I was actually in the house when the house was for sale, so I’ve seen the inside of the house. It’s a very different type of house because this house was built specifically for exotic cars,” said neighbor Barry Zimmerman.
Zimmerman said he saw the fire shooting up into the air.
“It seemed like the bulk of the fire was on the west side of the house in the back,” he said. “For me, I’m not an expert, but it looked like it started in the garage. You could smell burning rubber. You could smell burning metal. It was a very unique smell.”
The realtor who sold the couple their home was able to take a picture of a charred Tesla on the back of a tow truck after the fire was extinguished.
“When they pulled the Tesla out last night, they put it on the flatbed, and you could hear things popping within the Tesla,” said realtor Kirk Bauer.
He said he recalls seeing all of Schmidt’s expensive cars.
“He’s kind of a car collector,” said Bauer. “He has a lot of nice cars. A lot of his nicer cars are up in Canada, but what he does have in here are some nice ones. I think he had a Lamborghini, a Tesla, he had a nice Harley. Some interesting cars. He probably has 100 cars total. These cars are important to him, so he was upset about his cars for sure.”
— FLFR PIO (@FLFR411) May 22, 2019
The main concern for firefighters was the massive fuel load from the vehicles parked in the garage, officials said.
Fire officials said smoke and fire damage could be seen throughout the two-story home, and the house has been classified as a total loss.
“It was a scene, and the flames were coming out of the back area. Smoke was coming out of the front,” Niemann said.
Witnesses in the area took pictures showing the flames coming from the back of the home, leading them to believe the fire started in the garage.
Neighbors in the area said they’re thankful the fire didn’t spread to a nearby mega yacht.
Guests at the nearby Lauderdale Yacht club took pictures of the blaze.
7News cameras captured multiple fire engines parked near the home as crews worked to extinguish the flames.
Officials said samples from the home were sent to a laboratory to help them determine the cause of the fire.
Schmidt is expected to visit the home in the coming days to inspect the damage caused by the fire.
No injuries were reported.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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