Four dead in fire at ex-US tennis pro's house

A heart-stopping 911 call has been released revealing the horrific moment former US tennis star James Blake's mansion exploded, killing a family of four inside.

In the audio obtained by TMZ, the clearly distressed female caller tells the operator she was out walking her dog when the house exploded.

"As I walked by the house just exploded so I ran home to call people… oh my god," she pants.

The operator asks the woman if she knows who lives at the home to which she replies: "Probably a husband and a wife and two or three kids."

The caller begins to get increasingly distressed and begs the operator to "please hurry … it's just so horrible."

The residence, inside an exclusive country cub in Tampa, Florida, went up in flames around 6am local time.

Blake was not inside the house at the time but at his home in Connecticut. The retired sportsman reportedly had been renting it out to others.

It is not clear if the victims, whose identities have not yet been released, died from the blaze or by some other means.

One local TV reporter, Meredyth Censullo, tweeted that the victims had "gunshot wounds to the head" and "heavy duty fireworks wrapped around their heads".

Censullo, who left ABC as a traffic reporter last month, tweeted that the victims included a man found dead on the floor, a woman in a bed and a teen.

Several gas cans were also found on the second floor of the home.

Police confirmed they received reports of gunshots but said the fire could have set off the rounds.

There is no official comment on any signs of foul play.

Fire crews spent hours getting the blaze under control this morning, preventing detectives from entering and searching for evidence.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Structural damage might keep investigators our until tomorrow, police said.

Blake, 34, won 10 ATP titles in a 14-year career that ended last August when he called it quits at the US Open. He was ranked as high as fourth in the world in 2006.

He bought the 540sq m Tampa property in 2005 for US$1.5 million.

Sources: TMZ, WTSP
Author: Erin Tennant. Approving editor: Matthew Henry.