Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Shaquil Barrett had to be evacuated from his home in the Denver suburbs due to a wildfire that consumed over 450 acres.
According to Michael Spencer of CBS 4, Barrett was one of several residents that had to leave their homes as the fire threatened to reach residential areas.
“It sucked,” Barrett said as the fire was still being contained. “That’s our dream home. We did not want our dream home to go anywhere. We almost sold it and we came back like a month or two ago and realized walking around that we can’t sell our house. We love this and we worked too hard for this and for it to go that way would be the worst way possible.”
According to Blair Miller of the Denver Channel, the fire was started due to a malfunction on a power pole Monday morning. It would eventually burn 461 acres before being contained without any damage to nearby structures and nobody was injured.
Barrett was maintained a home in Denver since he began his career with the Broncos. He’s been franchise tagged by the Buccaneers after a franchise record 19.5 sacks last season for Tampa Bay. He has until July 15 to sign a long-term deal with the Buccaneers.
“Tampa needs to help me buy a house in Tampa with a long-term deal,” Barrett said with a laugh.