NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A Northwest Miami-Dade home has been left gutted after an overnight fire.
The family who lived at the home located near the Palmetto Expressway and Northwest 52nd Avenue, has lost everything.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue was called to the scene at around 11 p.m., Thursday. Upon arrival, flames raged through roof.
“I just kept asking her over and over, ‘Is there anybody in there? Is there anybody in there?'” said neighbor Vic Roberts.
He shot video, which shows the flames coming through the top of the house.
“The fire had burned through the roof, and it became a very dangerous situation,” said Miami-Dade Fire Lt. Felipe Lay.
Roberts made sure to help his neighbor, 88-year-old Beryl Brooks, get out safely. “We saw the neighbors on the floor, so we helped them to the sidewalk,” Roberts said.
Brooks said her granddaughter was the one who first alerted her. “She pulled me out. She said, ‘Come, Grandma. Fire, fire, fire,'” Brooks said.
“I told her. I said, ‘The house is gonna burn down, and we have to get out now,'” said resident Nakia Martin.
Crews were able to put out the flames within an hour and 15 minutes. However, the home was completely destroyed.
“Despite the burglar bars that were present all throughout the house, this family seemed to have some sort of system in place to egress and exit out of a structure during a time of emergency,” Lay said.
The cause of the fire is now under investigation.
Crews used a drone to fly over the scene. “Getting a different view of the structure and to determine the exact cause,” Lay said.
The family is now displaced but Brooks is still hopeful. “The Lord will make a way,” she said. “When there’s no way, my child, He will make it.”
“Everyone is safe, and I’m just grateful for life,” Martin said. “It could have been much worse.”
The house is now gutted. The family was renting but did not have renter’s insurance.
If you would like to help this family, a GoFundMe page has been set up at https://www.gofundme.com/gor3c.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.