Several families became homeless and a dog died this Saturday after a fire broke out in an apartment in the gated community where they lived in Little Havana, Miami.
The incident happened in the afternoon at the apartment complex on the 1300 block of 17th Lane in southwest Miami-Dade. The fire believed to have started in a ground floor unit and then spread the flames upward, CubaenMiami reported.
Several fire departments responded to the emergency call. Nobody was hurt or killed, however A resident’s pet could not be rescued in time.
“These people [los bomberos]…the truth is they tried to resuscitate the puppy, they gave him lots of oxygen but it was very strong, too much time in the candle and the smoke,” said Marisol, a resident of the condominium complex.
According to website Local10 News, a Peaceful Paws Pet Cremation Service vehicle took away the deceased dog.
Several of the residents who had lived in the building for more than 30 years complained about the fire. Authorities did not say where the fire started, but assured that the four apartments in one of the blocks were damaged.
“This is my parents’ apartment, that’s where my children grew up, now there’s nothing there, totally destroyed and what now,” complained Kathy, another tenant of the building.
A recent event in the same Miami-Dade County neighborhood left six people homeless. The incident began around 4:20 p.m. on Aug. 6 at an apartment complex on Beacom Boulevard and 7th Street and believed to have originated in the air conditioning unit of Unit 8, he told Telemundo 51 Osiel Solozano, tenant of the burned apartment. However, this cause has not been confirmed by the authorities.
According to Solozano, he had gone out to buy food for his daughters and when he returned he noticed the fire and set off the fire alarm to get his neighbors out. The man suspects the flames have spread from the air conditioner to the furniture, spreading and gaining strength.
A firefighting unit walking through the neighborhood witnessed the blaze and requested additional resources to put it out before it was reported. When the City of Miami Fire Department responded to the emergency, they found heavy smoke billowing from the second floor of an apartment building.
According to the media, the fire was upgraded to Code 1 for additional support while searches were carried out in all units of the building to ensure all occupants were evacuated.
“I have three children and right now I thought that one of my children would stay inside, the boy, because he was in the room and I almost left him inside,” said Jessica Jiménez, a Cuban who was in the building. told the news channel visiting her aunt.
The victims said that the event happened suddenly and all was lost. Firefighters managed to put out the flames in five minutes and, along with the Miami-Dade Police Department, rescued several animals, but one cat died.
The Salvation Army helped those in need rebuild their lives while the Miami Fire Investigation Unit investigates the cause of the fire.
Last July, a Fire at Miami’s Brickell Mall forced the rapid mobilization of the local fire brigade, who evacuated customers and employees who were inside the building to take them to safety.
Days earlier, a devastating fire had severely damaged the house Tropicana Flea Marketthe largest flea market in Miami-Dade County.
According to local media, the fire appeared to have started in a food truck, from where it spread to a trading post tent and from there to a first-floor warehouse.
March, an elderly Cuban couple died after a fire broke out in her apartment, also in Miami.
On that occasion, all the tenants of the building were evacuated by the fire brigade, who also managed to get the eighty-year-old couple out, but they did not survive.