Miramar family's first heat in decades sparks fire and frantic calls as South Florida cold snap hits

A soggy, burned mess is left behind at this Miramar home in the 2800 block of Buttonwood Lane, after Hansy Auguste turned on his heat for just the second time in 35 years. His wife said she was cold. 

Ttwo, three minutes later, boom, after the boom, she said, What is it? I said, I don't know. And then I went outside, I looked, and I see the roof on fire," he said.

Left behind was a gaping hole in the roof and fire, smoke and water damage around the house. This call is just one of many South Florida Fire Departments have been answering since temperatures dropped into the 30's.  Most of them are for a burning smell.

ll the departments in Broward County are experiencing that same thing, and it's normal for us here in South Florida. We don't turn our central heat on that much, and when we do, we're not used to smelling that burning smell within our homes," said Fort Lauderdale Fire Chief Steve Gollan.  He recommends people test their heat from time to time. 

"Turn the heat on for a few minutes, let it burn off that dust, make sure you're working and it's not popping any breakers. Everything's good. And then you know you're ready for the rest of the season next year," he sai 

Kathy Marshall hadn't used the heat in her North Lauderdale home for 5 or 6 years. 

"I got a phone call from my daughter that said, The heat's not working," Marshall said. Turns out it was broken. 

She said the temperature in the house was uncomfortable.

"60…60, Its kind of hard to sleep with that. Unless you got 20 comforters," she said.

She called a repair technician. In minutes he had it fixed. 

"It was a little bit low on Freon, so I just put about like a half a pound to a pound of Freon in, and now that the temperature in there is rising, it's coming out about 80 degrees, which is, which is perfect," said Keilen Davidson from Coral Air.