NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Three Miami-Dade firefighters are OK after a bathtub fell on them while they battled fierce flames at a condemned home in Northwest Miami-Dade.
The fire broke out near Northwest 83rd Street and Fifth Court, just before 3 a.m., Monday.
Alvin Thornton, who has lived next door to the property since 1973, said he woke up to the smell of smoke.
“I told them, ‘Call 911, ’cause it’s moving real fast,'” he said.
“I was just scared,” said Rebecca Gonzalez, who also lives nearby. “I couldn’t even go to sleep. By the time we came out, the whole house was on fire. You could see, already, inside the house where some of it had already fallen down.”
Hours into fighting the fire, a cast-iron tub fell when the second floor of the wooden home collapsed, striking three firefighters.
The firefighters were pulled from under the bathtub by fellow firefighters.
MDFR officials said no injuries were reported.
After more than three hours of battling the flames, the fire was contained.
“It was no good,” said Gonzalez. “The house was no good, so hopefully maybe they tear it down.”
Thornton said he is just glad crews worked as quickly as they did, since his home is located feet from where the flames were shooting. He said he knows how easily his home could have caught fire.
“They did a good job. I didn’t think they were going to control it,” he said. “My mother, she was screaming. She said, ‘Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up! It’s getting to the house, it’s getting to the house!'”
Crews applied foam to the house to prevent any hotspots from reigniting the fire.
Neighbors told 7News the house has been abandoned for about a year but has been troublesome due to vagrants coming in and living inside.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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