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Fresno County Sheriff's Office
The house where the incident happened
# Tragic
Suspected burglar killed after fire lit in chimney he was stuck in
The man is believed to have attempted to enter the house on Friday night.
A SUSPECTED BURGLAR who became stuck while trying to enter a home through the chimney has died after the homeowner unknowingly lit a fire underneath him.
This happened in Huron, a small town in the Fresno county area of California.
The man became stuck on Friday night after attempting to enter the home while its owner was away.
Shortly before 3pm on Saturday, the owner had returned and lit the fire in his fireplace before he heard a man shouting from inside the chimney.
As his house began to fill with smoke, the homeowner called the emergency services and attempted to put out the fire.
Fresno County Sheriff’s Office has said that the man was still alive 10 minutes after the initial emergency call was made, but by the time firefighters dismantled the chimney he was found to have died.
The man’s body was identified yesterday as 19-year-old Cody Caldwell with the coroner determining that his death came as a result of smoke inhalation and thermal burns.
The preliminary investigation has found that the man was attempting to burgle the house and had become stuck doing so.
Read: Burglars trick elderly man by pretending to check drains while cash stolen from home
Also: “There’s only one law in this country and that’s the law of the jungle” – Irish farmers using guns to protect themselves
