HARROWING audio from Tony Hsieh’s fateful 911 call reveals the moment the tech boss was “barricaded” by a fatal blaze that broke out inside his Connecticut home.
The 46-year-old former Zappos CEO died on Friday, days after he was pulled from the fire on November 18, the Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said on Monday.
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A broadcastify audio recording of the distress call revealed that the fire began in a shed outside the home – but a dispatcher said Hsieh was “barricaded inside.”
The tape begins with the dispatcher saying “One person barricaded inside of a room,” before she gives the address on Pequot avenue and adds “for a fire inside of a house.”
She continues: “The male is barricaded inside and not answering the door. Everyone else is outside the house. They are trying to get him to open up.”
Eight-and-a-half minutes later, fire crews broke down the door and dragged him out – but it was too late to save him.
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“One victim being pulled from the fire now – unresponsive,” the dispatcher says before the fire was reported under control shortly after.
The online shoe magnate was rushed to Lawrence + Memorial Hospital before being airlifted to a hospital in Bridgeport, where he died of complications from smoke inhalation.
He died with his family by his side, according to the Associated Press.
Firefighters are heard on tape saying the damage to the rest of the three-story home was “negative.”
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Hsieh, who was childless and unmarried, had been visiting family at the $1.3million waterfront property in New London, where he and his brother had been staying.
Tributes have been paid to the retired CEO who was known as a visionary as he spent years working to transform rundown parts of Las Vegas, where he reportedly lived in a tiny Airstream RV in a trailer park.
Ivanka Trump, who worked with Hsieh through her fashion business, honored her “dear friend” as an “original thinker.”
“Celebrating the life while mourning the loss of my dear friend Tony Hsieh. Tony was a deeply original thinker always challenging me to reject conformity & follow my heart,” she tweeted.
New London Fire Chief Thomas Curcio initially told The Hartford Courant there was only one fire with injuries that day but declined to confirm that Hsieh was the victim.
Curcio said all of New London’s fire vehicles responded when firefighters were told a person was trapped in the home.
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The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Located on the waterfront overlooking the Long Island Sound, the 3,100-square-foot house appeared in as good condition on Monday as it did four months prior when it sold for $1.3million, The Daily Mail reported.
“There was very little damage,” a man who answered the door told the outlet.
