HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Just hours after his wife’s death, 92-year-old George Argenio sat in his bedroom, staring at a wedding photo mounted on the wall — a memory of a life now suddenly gone.

On Tuesday, firefighters pulled Barbara Argenio from the couple’s apartment at Edgewater Beach Towers in Hollywood after a fire broke out in the penthouse unit above them.

“I went upstairs to the PH floor,” George Argenio said. “I couldn’t see the wall — that’s how much smoke there was.”

Barbara Argenio was taken to HCA Florida Aventura Hospital for evaluation and care. Despite efforts to revive her, she died shortly after.

“They revived her once,” George Argenio said. “She went back down to the ER. They put the hoses in her mouth. She lasted about 20 minutes — and that was it.”

A witness shared video from the scene, saying it showed the tenant who lives in the penthouse unit where the fire began.

“I tried to go and open the door, but there was too much smoke,” the witness said.

According to George Argenio, firefighters told him the blaze may have started after the resident in the penthouse set a timer on his coffee maker and left for the beach, possibly leaving his patio door open.

George Argenio, the building’s longtime supervisor, was home in his 11th-floor apartment when he first smelled smoke. He left to investigate, leaving his wife behind.

“I talked to one of the firemen,” he recalled. “I said, ‘my wife is in 1101.’”

The couple had no children, but George Argenio is surrounded by neighbors who say they will make sure he is never alone.

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