FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- Firefighters hampered by hurricane shutters covering the windows of a priest's house were unable to save the man, who was killed in the blaze.
The Rev. Jorge Sardinas, 53, apparently tried to douse the fire Tuesday with a garden hose before he was overcome by heat and flames, Fort Lauderdale Police Sgt. Alfred Lewers Jr. said.
The shutters ``really hindered our efforts to get into the house,'' fire Battalion Chief Phillip Pennington said. ``If there's a lesson to be learned, it's take your shutters down after a storm in case of a fire.''
Sardinas took down only a few shutters that had protected him from the recent hurricanes Charley and Frances to allow light into the house, Pennington said. He was found unconscious on the floor near a bedroom, and paramedics administered CPR before taking him to a hospital.
Fire arson investigators and police homicide detectives were investigating the blaze, but said they had no reason to suspect foul play, Lewers said.
Sardinas was an art professor at St. Thomas University in Miami and a priest at Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic Church in Miami Lakes, Lewers said.
