An early morning inferno ravaged a four-unit residential building in Miami, leaving the structure in ruins and residents shaken. Miami Fire Rescue teams were dispatched to the blaze at the corner of 30th Street and NW 19th Avenue, shortly after 4 a.m. to find the building engulfed, with heavy flames pouring out from the rooftop. According to CBS News Miami, firefighters mounted an aggressive attack on the fire, bringing it under control in about half an hour. Crews conducted a thorough search of the building confirming it was vacant and there were no casualties reported.
Adjacent neighbor Carlos Contreras was alerted to the blaze by a woman banging on doors, yelling "fuego, fuego." "If it weren't for the lady banging on doors yelling 'fuego, fuego', 'fire, fire' and I said 'fire?'. I'd have walked out my back door, for sure," Contreras explained in a statement obtained by CBS News Miami. He also noted the danger posed by sparks flying in the breeze, which threatened to spread the fire to his property laden with dry banana leaves and old wooden fencing.
The building's owner conveyed that tenants who had been living there were recently evicted. He expressed his suspicions to 7News that arson might be involved given the timing of the fire during his attempts to sell the complex. Miami Fire Rescue has not confirmed these suspicions, and their investigations unit is currently working to pinpoint the cause of the inferno, according to a 7News interview.
Adding to the chorus of local concern, Contreras recounted in a statement obtained by 7News how his son went outside to check out the fire. “The fire department came and they started hosing it down,” he said. “Little by little it came down and they took care of it.” The specter of the flames was captured by his daughter, who took a cellphone video, fearing that the fire would spread to their home due to the intense sparks and chunks of debris being thrown into the air.
The fire has left the building in a ruinous state, with the owner and the neighborhood reckoning with the aftermath and the uncertain prospects of a structure deemed unsafe. As of now, no injuries have been reported from this incident.
