FORT WORTH, Texas — Excessive heat inside a home may have been the cause of a Fort Worth man's death.
North Texas, including Fort Worth, has been under an excessive heat warning since Monday. It ends Wednesday evening.
Wednesday morning, Fort Worth police arrived to the Mulberry Heights neighborhood to find the man, who neighbors identified as Wayne John Moore, dead in his home. Fort Worth police said Moore's wife called for help. She was taken to the hospital for a "heat emergency."
People living in the Mulberry Heights neighborhood said they make it a point to look out for each other.
"We have to," Melissa Duplessis said. "It's the right thing to do."
Duplessis, and other sources, tell WFAA that Moore's home was over 100 degrees inside. There were several pets in the home.
Duplessis, who lives in a home behind Moore's, said she helped repair Moore's air conditioning unit’s compressor in March. However, the coils in the unit that bring in cool air could not be fixed on her own.
“I just wish there was something more I could’ve done," Duplessis said.
Sammy Tatum, another one of Moore's neighbors, said the Moores' AC fans may have only circulated hot air in the couple’s house. He said he didn't know Moore and his wife were having air conditioner problems.
Tatum and Duplessis suspect Moore and his wife had been without cool air for several months – and in their style of homes, it doesn’t take long for it to warm up.
“It can take just five minutes. It’s all it takes. Five minutes," Duplessis said, "You can take a thermometer and watch it drop.”
Tatum described Moore as a good man, and always helpful to those around him.
“He would tell me how to take care of my property over there," Tatum said. "I remember that real good, ‘cause he was right about everything he told me.”
Tatum and Duplessis said on their stretch of road, they’ll be doing more to continue looking out for one another as the summer heat beats down.
“If she needs me on anything, I’m there," Tatum said of Duplessis and his other neighbors. "If I need her, she’s there.”