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Man dies in Tarpon Springs house fire

Neighbors said the Vietnam veteran who lived there used a wheelchair to get around. The cause is under investigation.

By ROBIN STEIN
Published February 7, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Douglas R. Clifford] Tarpon Springs firefighters investigate a blaze that killed Mike Broberg. Mike Broberg died in Tuesday's fire.

TARPON SPRINGS – One man died Tuesday night in a house fire.

About 6:14 p.m., Tarpon Springs police and fire rescue crews responded to a report of a fire at 37 W. Boyer St., and found the home engulfed in flames. Several neighbors had tried unsuccessfully to gain entry, according to a news release from police Sgt. J. Allen MacKenzie.

Crews found the dead man, identified as Mike Broberg, in the front bedroom.

Neighbors said Broberg was a Vietnam veteran, had multiple sclerosis and used a wheelchair.

Lauri and Andrew Wakefield, who live next door, said they were the first to smell the smoke. Lauri Wakefield said she had pulled into her driveway about 6 p.m., and was making trips back and forth to her car a few minutes later when she smelled smoke and heard someone screaming “help me, help me.”

She said she went inside and got her husband, Andrew Wakefield, who ran to the front door of the house on fire.

“I opened the door and kind of lunged inside and it was just a black smoldering mess. The flames were coming through the black,” Andrew Wakefield said. “He (Broberg) was inside the fire …There was nothing I could do.”

The couple said they could hear Broberg screaming and moaning from a bedroom.

The cause and origin of the fire are under investigation, and the damage was estimated in excess of $50,000.

[Last modified February 7, 2007, 12:41:09]