Newly released incident reports describe the timeline of the fire that led to Tony Hsieh’s death

Hsieh’s death was announced in late November by a spokesman for DTP Companies, a company of which he served as a visionary. The spokesman at the time said that Hsieh died in peace and surrounded by his family. Dozens of tributes were spilled on social media after the news, some calling Hsieh a “brilliant businessman” and others praising his kindness and generosity.

According to witnesses’ reports in police incident reports, Hsieh had gone to sleep in a shed attached to the house where he was staying after having an argument with the hostess, which some witnesses described as Hsieh’s girlfriend, others as friend.

Hsieh’s brother, friends and employees were also at the house when they were due to leave for the island of Maui, Hawaii, early in the morning, police reports say.

According to a report, Hsieh “was taking everyone to Hawaii for a getaway”.

Witnesses told police that Hsieh was being checked every 10 minutes.

Hsieh’s personal assistant told police that before the fire, they saw Hsieh lying in the shed with a blanket, adding that Hsieh had candles and a propane heater lit to provide heat inside the shed, according to the police report. The assistant realized that “the blanket was almost touching the flame of the candle” and pointed out the possible danger to Hsieh, and told Hsieh to blow out the candle, says the police report. Hsieh blew out the candle, according to the report.

Hsieh eventually “asked for him to be examined every 5 minutes”, which the group complied with, according to an incident report.

The same report says that during that first five-minute check, witnesses “discovered smoke coming out of the shed and were unable to enter because it was locked from the inside.”

Witnesses told police they broke a window and tried to put out the fire, according to police reports.

Hsieh’s personal assistant told police that Hsieh’s dog had recently died and that Hsieh was “upset”. The assistant added that “they never heard the victim make (any) suicidal or homicidal statements”.

Emergency personnel arrived at the house around 3:30 am, police said, where firefighters forced the shed door and removed Hsieh. He was then transported to the hospital.

The police report says that the fire department was notified of Hsieh’s death on November 27 and that, according to a coroner’s investigator, Hsieh had cerebral edema from the hot gases and soot from the fire and was placed in a fan. The family asked for him to be extubated, according to the police report.