HIALEAH, FLA. (WSVN) - Rescue crews extinguished a three-alarm fire, Wednesday morning, at a UPS warehouse facility in Hialeah.
The fire broke out sometime before 6 a.m. at the UPS warehouse, located at 6001 E. 8th Ave.
7Skyforce HD flew over the scene, where heavy smoke was seen coming from the southeast portion of the building.
7News spoke with UPS employee Fillmore Pacheco at the facility, who thinks he knows what may have caused the blaze. “A golf cart caught on fire at our job location, right here at UPS, and I tried to prevent it but it was too late,” Pacheco said. “I tried my best, so we called the paramedics and the firefighters as soon as possible, so hopefully everyone made it out safe.”
Pacheco said he first attempted to extinguish the flames by using a fire extinguisher, but it was too late. “It just got bigger,” he said. “It contained the whole facility.”
Over 20 units from Hialeah Fire Rescue and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue worked to put out the flames by 9 a.m. “Once we put out the fires on the north side, we started getting reports of heavy black smoke on the southeast side,” said Hialeah Fire and Rescue Capt. Cesar Espinosa. “We had to mobilize more units.”
Pacheco and his coworkers were told by their supervisors to immediately evacuate as soon as the fire began getting out of control.
Hialeah Fire Rescue said there were multiple fires throughout the warehouse. “That’s what made it more difficult,” said Hialeah Fire and Rescue Capt. David Rodriguez. “Number one, all the materials that are in there. Number two, the size and complexity. It’s 500,000 square feet, I believe it is. It’s a huge building.”
According to officials, all fire rescue crews remain on the scene and people will not be leaving the surrounding scene.
There were ambulances on the scene, but at this point there is no word of any injuries.
It is unclear whether any packages inside were damaged. UPS said an announcement will be made soon.
The official cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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