A fire forced a building full of people to evacuate in Miami and some will not be able to return home.
That fire broke out early Tuesday morning inside of an apartment on the fourth floor of an apartment complex off of 53rd Avenue and Northwest Seventh Street.
It took over 80 firefighters and 40 minutes to extinguish the fire.
Cell phone video from Miami Fire Rescue early Tuesday captured the aftermath of those flames, the entire apartment reduced to ash and soot.
An elderly couple was inside of that apartment at the time of the fire and were taken to the hospital with some smoke inhalation, but are expected to be okay.
Smoke could be seen coming from the balcony of the apartment.
According to Miami Fire Rescue, there was heavy smoke and flames coming from all throughout the fourth floor and hallway of the five story residential building, which caused extremely low visibility for fire crews.
“When firefighters arrived, they in fact did find the residential building and they were instructed to go to the fourth floor where they encountered heavy, heavy black smoke with low visibility in the hallway,” said Miami Fire Rescue Spokesperson Pete Sanchez.
It took the help of multiple fire crews to get everyone evacuated safely.
“There was difficulty and challenges. Again, the fourth floor was heavily charged with smoke. Smoke was banked down all the way down to the ground with thick black smoke and again, we had reports of a lot of elderly residents,” said Sanchez. “So actually we upgraded the incident into a two alarm fire, so we had over 35 units on the scene, over 100 firefighters.”
One neighbor described the chaos after several people who had to be evacuated had those mobility issues, and how they had to go knocking on different doors.
“We did have a family of five elderlies on the fifth floor that our firefighters assisted because most of those were wheelchair-bound and they were bed-bound. So it took an effort from all firefighters,” said Sanchez.
Neighbors like Gabriela Marquez heard the alarm and started getting people out.
“We just started to make sure that all the neighbors were out, so we started knocking, letting them realize that it was a real fire,” she said.
Everybody living on the fourth floor will be displaced because of the extensive damage to the hall way from the heat and smoke.
On that floor were eight different units with 15 different people including children and elderly people.
Crying, screaming and running were the only things a terrified mother could do in the moment, as she left everything behind in her fourth floor apartment.
“I don’t have pampers, I don’t have clothes, I don’t have milk for my baby, I don’t have nothing,” said the woman.
The Red Cross has stepped in to help displace those pep[le for the time being and will help others living in the building because the one elevator that they have, no longer works, so anybody with mobility issues won’t be able to get up to their floor.
“We have also elevator damage, so right now we’re also assessing what individuals need assistance, making it up and down those stairs and just ensuring that everyone is taken care of and that all the humanitarian efforts and needs are met before we leave the scene,” said Sanchez. “So now we’re working with the building manager to see who is bed-bound, who has a wheelchair, to determine if they can or can’t stay, there is power to the building, so people that can’t make it up to their apartments by the stairs will be allowed to.”
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
