Police say man set his apartment on fire

DAYTONA BEACH, Fl. (WOFL FOX 35) - Investigators with the Daytona Beach Police Department say a man was preparing to torch his apartment after calling 911.

“911, what's your emergency?” the operator asked.  “My emergency is there's a bunch of killer soldiers outside of where I live trying to kill me and my wife!” came the urgent response from the caller.

The man’s neighbor, Joseph Harley, said he tried to help him get out of the burning building.

“I was trying to help him but he wasn't able to get out like that. He got a whole lot of smoke to his head, I guess,” Harley said.

Harley said the man wasn't making any sense. “He was saying stuff out of his character. I knew nothing like that was going on. When I looked inside the house, I didn't see anybody in the house,” he said.

DBPD Spokeswoman Lyda Longa said the man was taking precautions against an attack. “He was having issues and set the fire in the apartment as a way that they were going to defend themselves,” she said.

It started earlier Sunday night, when a sergeant was called to the home, but at the time the officer didn't see a need to take the man in for a mental health check. 

“There are a bunch of killers,” the man said, a few hours later, “I do not want to die tonight. Please be here as [inaudible] as possible. Please send a lieutenant, not a sergeant. The sergeant came out here to kill us!”

Soon after that, the apartment went up in flames. “It's unfortunate, a very sad situation, but they put a lot of people in harm's way,” Longa said.

Longa said it’s lucky that no one was killed. “We're very grateful that it didn't turn out worse than it could have.”

A police officer and a firefighter were hurt during the fire, but both are expected to make full recoveries. The man accused of starting the fire was sent to Halifax Hospital. Investigators haven't decided on what charges - if any - he may face.