Fire destroys home owned by Heat coach Erik Spoelstra

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Fire destroyed a home owned by Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra early Thursday, with officials saying more than 20 units were dispatched in what became a frantic, futile effort to save the property.

Nobody was in the home when the fire broke out, and no injuries were reported. Spoelstra plans to coach Miami’s next game, a home matchup against the Charlotte Hornets on Friday night, the team said.

An investigation into what caused the fire was underway, officials said. Those probes can take weeks in some cases.

Spoelstra was on an airplane when the fire started, flying home with the Heat from a Wednesday night game in Denver. The fire was called in around 4:36 a.m., county records showed, and the Heat charter landed in Miami about 35 minutes later.

Multiple fire trucks and other vehicles were at the fully involved scene when Spoelstra arrived at the property. Television cameras captured Spoelstra walking around the perimeter of the property in the pre-dawn hours, sometimes stopping and holding his head in apparent disbelief as flames continued shooting into the darkened air.

Drone footage captured after the blaze was extinguished showed that much of the home was reduced to charred rubble.

Smoke was still seen rising over parts of the property more than three hours after the first fire trucks arrived, but officials declared the blaze contained around 8 a.m. Some crews remained on the scene, monitoring hotspots, until early Thursday afternoon.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue battalion chief Victoria Byrd said the fire — with flames “as tall as the trees,” she said — was fought with crews both on the ground and in the air. The fire was contained to the property owned by Spoelstra and no nearby homes were damaged, Byrd said, adding that a privacy fence and tree cover impeded the initial firefighting efforts.

“Our units came in and did an excellent job,” Byrd said.

Property records show Spoelstra bought the five-bedroom home in December 2023. He had done extensive work to the property following the purchase.

Spoelstra — who has been part of all three of Miami’s NBA championship runs, two as head coach — is in his 18th season as coach of the Heat, an organization he originally joined as a video coordinator in 1995. He finalized a deal last month to serve as coach of the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

The Heat were off Thursday. Spoelstra is scheduled to have a pregame media session Friday, as per usual.

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