NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A man had to run away from his vehicle while filling up at a Northwest Miami-Dade gas station when he noticed flames coming from underneath the car.
7Skyforce hovered over the scene of the fire at a Citgo in the area of Northwest 27th Avenue and 28th Street at around 2:45 p.m., Friday.
“I called immediately 911,” Barbara Crespo, who owns the business next door to the gas station, said. “I saw it from my office. I saw the flames.”
According to Remberto Morejon, the vehicle’s owner, he was pumping gasoline when he saw flames beneath the car and had enough time to run away from the pump before seeing and hearing an explosion.
“I was pumping gas, and I saw a fire on the ground,” he said through a translator.
The flames from beneath the vehicle engulfed the Jeep, melted the gas station’s roof and damaged pump No. 4.
Surveillance video from Crespo’s business showed pieces of the roof falling to the ground.
“I turned to the right, and I see fire,” one witness said.
Crespo said she panicked once she heard two explosions.
“Right away, I get out from my office, and I take my bird, and I move it to the security place,” she said.
The fire was also captured on a nearby home’s surveillance video, and the homeowner said a gas station employee threw water on the blaze in an attempt to extinguish it, but the flames grew more intense.
Morejon, who was not hurt, said he has another car, but he is shocked because nothing like that has happened to him before. He added that he is lucky to be alive.
“Thank God nothing happened to me, but I feel sad because of what happened,” he said.
No injuries were reported.
“I feel happy that nothing happened at the end,” Crespo said.
The Jeep has since been towed away from the scene, with Morejon looking over the damaged vehicle.
Hours later, crews arrived to clean up the debris left over from the fire.
The gas station’s manager said she does not know when the business will be able to reopen.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue is investigating the cause of the blaze.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.