MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - The Miami Beach Convention Center has been evacuated after a fire broke out on top of the building’s roof.
Miami Beach Fire Rescue crews responded to the scene just after 5 p.m. Wednesday.
According to Fire Rescue, a chiller, a metal structure on the roof caught fire. Visitors attending a cruise ship hospitality exposition were evacuated. No injuries were reported.
It’s what people in the travel industry from across the country came here for, only to be told to evacuate.
“You see the black smoke. We did hear the fire alarm go off,” said a convention goer. “You hear the woman on the P.A., and she said it’s time to leave.”
“Fire alarms start going off,” said another convention goer. “We all kept going out. They actually managed it pretty good.”
Convention goers mingled outside as the smoke billowed from the building.
The western portion of the building sits right across from city hall.
“It made it easy to come over,” said Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber.
Gelber said the fire was quickly contained, that there appears to be no structural damage, and he praised his fire department for their quick, brave work.
“Sometimes things happen, and obviously fires aren’t expected,” said Gelber.
Andrew Turley came from Dallas and spotted the blaze from his hotel room on Collins Avenue. It was the venue where he and his party were headed.
“We got dressed up because we wanted to go to the event,” said Turley. “We were staying at a hotel not too far away, and I look out the window and I see like there’s a fire somewhere obviously, and I was like, ‘Oh, it can’t be the convention center it has to be like something else.'”
The fire has since been extinguished, but crews are checking for hot spots.
“We are safe,” said an evacuee.
Convention Center Drive and other streets in the area have been shut down as officials work the scene.
One fireman was taken to Mt. Sinai and treated for smoke inhalation and is expected to be OK.
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