NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A breast cancer patient was staying at her daughter’s home following a round of chemotherapy when a fire broke out at her Northwest Miami-Dade home, destroying the place she called home for over two decades.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews battled the blaze near Northwest 26th Avenue and 97th Street, early Tuesday morning.
“When I came back, it was gone,” Bernice Smith, the homeowner, said. “The whole place went up with all the furniture, all the clothes.”
Smith and Elizabeth Addison-Smith, her mother, said they are thankful and trying to stay positive despite losing everything.
“It’s OK! Mama, we alive,” Smith said. “We got our lives, mama!”
Firefighters worked quickly to contain and put out the flames, but despite their best efforts, the flames ripped through the home the family has lived at for over 20 years.
Smith, who is battling breast cancer, decided to stay the night at her daughter’s home after a chemotherapy treatment, and her mother came along with her.
“If we would have been asleep in there, we would have been gone,” Addison-Smith said. “Ain’t no way we could have made it out.”
Left with only the clothes on their backs, the daughter and mother must now figure out their next steps. Luckily, they have family to stay with for now.
“We’ll probably stay in a hotel because I don’t want to be a burden to anybody,” Smith said.
No one was hurt, but the home was left badly damaged.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
If you would like to donate to help Smith and her family recover from the fire, click here.
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