MIAMI (WSVN) - Two victims have been transported to the hospital after flames erupted on the third floor of an apartment building in Miami.
City of Miami Fire Rescue crews responded to the scene at the Miami Riverview Apartments along Northwest 16th Street and 27th Avenue just after 11:30 a.m., Thursday.
7News cameras captured several fire trucks parked outside of the building.
“When we pull up, we see people running out, people screaming, telling people are trapped,” said Miami Fire Rescue Capt. Ignatius Carroll.
The fire trapped those mostly confined to the second and third floors of the apartment building.
“I see a lot of smoke,” said German Pascual, a witness. “I come out here, I see a guy screaming out the window right there until he finally jumped right out.”
That person jumped from a window on the third floor to escape the fire, and the fall was captured on a nearby surveillance camera.
“He had to jump,” said Pascual. “It was a lot of smoke, and you could see it in his face — the panic.”
He was later transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital with serious injuries.
“The person that jumped out of the window was transported to Ryder Trauma Center,” said Carroll.
Residents were saved by fire rescue ladders.
Rose Iglesias, 14, said she doesn’t remember how she and her family escaped the flames.
“Me and my aunt stuck our heads out, and I started screaming,” she said. “At least I was catching air, so I don’t really know.”
The smoke spread from unit to unit, and Iglesias had just left her apartment when she saw smoke.
“My whole entire third floor apartment place is on fire. Smoke was coming out. I couldn’t breathe,” said Iglesias. “A lot of emotions. I was crying, screaming. All of my emotions kept coming out.”
Iglesias said she only remembered thinking one thing.
“Probably, I might die today,” she said.
Iglesias and her family were rescued from the fire without incident.
Another victim was rescued from the second floor of the apartment building and was transported from the scene for smoke inhalation.
“A lot of smoke coming out and everything, and then I saw the smoke kept going, traveling down the hall,” said Pascual, “you know, from window to window.”
Rescue officials said a total of 27 units were evacuated as firefighters worked to put out the flames.
The American Red Cross was on scene assisting those families that were displaced.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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