MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) - Firefighters battled a blaze after an unoccupied Miami Gardens home caught fire, and neighbors said they found themselves fearing for their safety.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews responded to the first alarm house fire near Northwest 29th Court and 179th Street, just after 4:40 a.m., Saturday.
Fire officials said they found flames coming from the roof of the home upon arrival at the scene.
Even though the building was empty, the danger for others in the neighborhood was real.
“It was just kind of startling. I hear my sister tell my mom, ‘The house next door is on fire,’ so we bolt up,” said Kat Rosemond, who lives in the house next door.
Rosemond said the raging fire threatened her own home.
“You can tell by looking at the front of the house that it was fully engulfed,” she said, “and like I said, my room is right next door, right on the other side of the fence. It was scary.”
Fortunately, Rosemond’s family escaped as firefighters kept those flames from spreading to other homes.
Hours later, smoke was still billowing out of the house.
“It had pretty much burned through the roof. I didn’t know the full extent of it until I just looked at the front of the house, but it was pretty drastic,” said Rosemond.
Crews were eventually able to extinguish the blaze after they pulled a hose line and attacked the fire.
No one was hurt.
Officials are saying the home is unlivable. Detectives are attempting to determine whether the massive fire sparked accidentally or was an arson attack.
“I’m hoping that they figure out what happened, and I hope that if someone was involved and it was intentional, that they get brought to justice,” said Rosemond.
Rosemond said the home’s new owners had been looking for people to rent it from them, and that’s why it was empty at the time.
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