HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – A man was found dead Monday after a boat fire in Hollywood.
Police were called to 3300 N. Ocean Drive at 1:42 a.m. after reports of a boat fire.
Hollywood police said the boat was engulfed in flames when they arrived. After putting the fire out, a man in his 40s was found dead in the water.
A woman who lives in the area told Local 10 News reporter Layron Livingston that something woke her up early in the morning, so she looked out her window and saw what she described as a "small triangle of flames" burning from the back of the boat.
"(The boat) was engulfed in flames, and I kept watching to see if there was someone on it, but there was just a lot of black smoke," Karen Rochez said.
The small boat was found tied to a dock just a few yards from Rochez's front door.
"I just feared someone was in trouble and, you know, called (police) right away," Rochez said. "I didn't see anyone on it, and I was looking as hard as I could, because initially I thought, 'Oh, if somebody's on there, they're in trouble.'"
Hollywood police officers, firefighters and the U.S. Coast Guard were called to the fire.
Rochez said she has lived in the area for 15 years and has never seen anything like this before.
The body has been taken to the Broward County medical examiner's office to determine a cause of death.