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Explosion injures deputy trying to save victims in fatal Tampa fire

TAMPA, Fla. — A 29-year-old Hillsborough County sheriff’s deputy was injured in an explosion while trying to drag a woman out of a burning mobile home in Tampa, officials said.

Two people died in the fire.

The fire was reported at about 11 p.m. Wednesday. By the time emergency personnel made it to the scene, the single-wide mobile home was engulfed in flames, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said.

A 43-year-old man was found on the ground outside the home, suffering from smoke inhalation and minor burns, investigators said.

He told deputies that his mother and a 2-year-old boy were in the house, HCSO said.

The woman could be heard yelling inside the home, and Deputy Dane Tewmey rushed inside in an attempt to save the two.

He was able to reach the 58-year-old woman and was trying to pull her from the home when the fire flashed, causing an explosion that threw Tewmey backward, HCSO said.

The deputy tried to push back into the mobile home, but the fire had grown too intense, investigators said.

The woman and the child died.

Tewmey, who has been an HCSO employee since 2009, suffered burns to his arms and hands.

He was taken to the hospital for treatment and was later released.

The 43-year-old man, who was not named, suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the fire.

The Hillsborough County Medical Examiner’s Office and HCSO are investigating the cause and origin of the fire and the official causes of death of the two victims.