After escaping an early-morning house fire, a Plano man was killed Thursday when he went back in the burning house for his mobile phone, officials say. (Published Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014) 
 
 After escaping an early-morning house fire, a Plano man was killed Thursday when he went back in the burning house for his mobile phone, officials say. 
 
 Fire officials said three adults, a woman and two men were at their home on Haggard Street when the fire started at about 1 a.m. They all were able to get out, but then the two men decided to go back to get their mobile phones to call 911. 
 
 Man Killed in Early Thursday House Fire 
 
 An early morning house fire has killed one man in Plano. (Published Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014) 
 
 One of the men, later identified as 72-year-old Rex Benson, was unable to get out of the house again and died. 
 
 Firefighters got to the scene within minutes of the initial call, but were unable to rescue Benson. 
 
 "The home was fully engulfed in flames," said Plano Fire and Rescue spokeswoman Peggy Harrell. "A lot of smoke when our first crew arrived." 
 
 Officials said the other man was the Benson's roommate and the woman was his daughter. Neighbors said Benson had lived in the area for years. 
 
 "Great guy, willing to help anyone who needed a hand; and to hear he made that big of a mistake and the loss of life because of something as simple as a cellphone seems sad," said neighbor Scott Kraus. 
 
 Harrell said it's very important never to go back inside a burning building. 
 
 "Nine people out of 10 that return back into a burning building don't make it out alive," said Harrell. "That's evident here and it's really tragic." 
 
 The cause of the fire is still under investigation. ||||| Updated at 3:30 p.m.: 
 
 The victim has been identified as 72-year-old Rex Benson, according to the Collin County medical examiner’s office. 
 
 Staff writer Emily Sims reports: 
 
 An elderly Plano man was killed early Thursday when he went back into his burning home to retrieve a cell phone. 
 
 The fire was reported shortly after 1 a.m. at the home in the 800 block of Haggard Street, fire Capt. Peggy Harrell said. She said firefighters arrived three minutes after the call to find the house engulfed in flames. 
 
 “It was big enough to get your attention,” said neighbor Scott Hampton, who went outside after his dogs woke him up. 
 
 Two men and the victim’s daughter all escaped initially, Harrell said, but the men re-entered the burning home because they had no phone to call 911. Hampton said he had to stop the daughter from going back in. 
 
 The roommate got out unharmed, but the victim, a man in his 70s, was found dead inside. 
 
 “People should never go back into a burning home or building for any reason,” Harrell said. “Fire and toxic smoke can quickly incapacitate a person and make it impossible to get out.” 
 
 The cause of the fire remains under investigation. ||||| An elderly Texas man died early Thursday when he rushed back into a burning home to get his cell phone. 
 
 Rex Benson, 72, was initially able to escape the powerful blaze just after 1 a.m. on Haggard St. in Plano, Tex., but inexplicably braved the sky-high flames with another man to retrieve a phone to call 911, fire officials said. 
 
 The unidentified companion escaped, but Benson was unable to cheat death twice — he was found dead inside the house by members of the Plano Fire Department, officials said. 
 
 “It was a terrible miscalculation on their part. A terrible accident,” Capt. Peggy Harrell told the Daily News. “Just very sad.” 
 
 Benson lived at the one-story brick house with his adult daughter and an unidentified roommate, Harrell said. 
 
 Firefighters had to battle the raging fire from the outside because the entire home was ‘engulfed in flames,’ officials said. (WFAA) 
 
 The male roommate alerted Benson and his daughter — who were both sleeping at the time — to the fire, Harrell said. 
 
 When firefighters arrived at the home at 1:08 a.m. — three minutes after the initial call came over — the home was “fully engulfed,” Harrell said. 
 
 Harrell said in her experience that roughly 90% of people who go back into a fire don’t make it out alive. 
 
 “I don't think people realize how quickly fire grows. Evidentially, they felt they had the time to go back in,” she said. “This is a notch in the statistic on the wrong end.” 
 
 Benson's adult daughter and an unidentified roommate were able to escape the fire and survive. (WFAA) 
 
 Neighbors were sad and perplexed as to why Benson didn’t come to them for a phone. 
 
 “He could have come to any of the neighbors’ houses to call 911,” Nakita Weseman told CBS DFW. “I know he realized probably he didn't have his cell phone, but that's definitely replaceable, but he wasn't.” 
 
 The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but no foul play is suspected. 
 
 idejohn@nydailynews.com 
 
 Follow me on Twitter: @IrvingDeJohn
– A Texas man who escaped a burning building with his life but not his phone made the fatal mistake of going back for it, firefighters say. Rex Benson, 72, his adult daughter, and another man made it out of their Plano home when the fire started around 1am yesterday, but the two men decided to brave the flames and go back in to retrieve their phones to call 911; a neighbor tells the Dallas Morning News he had to stop Benson's daughter from following them in. Firefighters, who were alerted to the fire by someone's call and arrived within minutes of it, found the house fully engulfed in flames and Benson's body inside, NBCDFW reports. "It was big enough to get your attention," says the neighbor of the fire. "It was a terrible miscalculation on their part. A terrible accident," a fire department spokeswoman tells the New York Daily News. "I don't think people realize how quickly fire grows. Evidentially, they felt they had the time to go back in," she says, explaining that people should never go back into a burning building—and 90% of those that do don't make it out alive. "This is a notch in the statistic on the wrong end." (In Chicago last month, two men died after jumping into the Chicago River to retrieve a dropped phone.)