MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) - A Miami Gardens family has been forced out of their home after an early morning fire broke out.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews responded to the scene near Northwest Second Court off 191st Street, at around 6 a.m., Friday.
“We was getting married on May 22, and that’s all gone too,” Tuwanna Seymour, whose home was destroyed, said. “We don’t have nothing. This is the only thing we have — the clothes on our back.”
“I’m just a little bit upset, but at the end of the day, I’ll get over it,” said Barbara McCall, whose home was damaged by the fire.
7SkyForce hovered over the scene where firefighters could be seen tackling the flames as heavy smoke billowed from the front door of the home.
Seymour said her fiance and family woke up to the blaze and barely made it out. Her fiance was left with burns and bruises.
“Our clothes, everything we have for the wedding, our shoes, our dresses, his suits and like everything,” Seymour said. “There was like flames coming everywhere — out the back, out the front, out the door. It was something that you see on TV that you thought would never happen to you.”
One man said he heard the family of the damaged home yelling “Fire!” and ensured everyone got out safely.
“We were all asleep,” McCall said. “My son got up to go to the bathroom, and he smelled the smoke. When he went back in the room, it was on fire, so he came and got us up. We all came out.”
McCall’s neighbor, Jimmy Davis, said it happened quickly.
“By the time the smoke hit the screen, I took off out the front door,” he said. “When I did that, I seen the lady hollering, saying, ‘The house on fire! The house on fire! Get the children out!'”
McCall along with her two grandchildren who were spending the night got out safely.
Meanwhile, Seymour and her fiance will put their wedding day on hold, and they are counting their blessings that they still have each other.
“God’s in control, just thank God that He woke you up to get out of the house, to get everybody out of the house,” Seymour said. “We will be OK, just thank God.”
The family is now trying to see what they can salvage, but they will have to find somewhere else to stay.
“Yeah, I’m feeling OK, but it got me kind of, you know, thinking,” Davis said. “It could have been worse.”
Fire officials said the fire originated on a mattress in one of the bedrooms, but the cause remains undetermined.
A representative with the American Red Cross visited the home, and they are helping them find somewhere to stay.
Family members have set up a GoFundMe page. For more information, click here.
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