MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A legally blind woman expressed her gratitude to the police officers who came to her rescue after her Miami Beach home caught fire.
7News cameras captured the charred remains of 62-year-old Shelley Spitz’s kitchen, Monday afternoon.
“Oh, my God, the kitchen windows are broken, too,” she said.
The fire broke out just after midnight inside Spitz’s home, located along Post Avenue.
“My throat was burning, I woke up, and my throat was. I said, ‘Oh my goodness, the pot is still on the fire,'” she said.
It took some time before the homeowner realized the flames had spread far beyond her oven, where she had left a piece of beef.
“I was not aware there was a fire. I thought it was only smoke from the burning pot,” she said.
Spitz then tried to figure out how she was going to get out of the burning house.
“Oh, it was impossible. It was impossible to breathe, impossible to see,” she said. “In the best of light, it’s hard for me to see.”
Fortunately, veteran K-9 officer Alex Llaneras was patrolling the area when he saw the smoke. He immediately raced to the home along with fellow Miami Beach Police officer Ralph Vera.
The officers were about to break down the front door when they saw Spitz’s husband race out of the home.
Spitz was still inside, coughing and crying for help.
“Thank God. Thank God [that] God woke me up, because there was no other reason,” she said. “I said, ‘Help me, help me.’ I couldn’t find the way out.”
Then, amid the smoke, she was able to make out one of the officers.
“I think it was one of the policemen who came, and he extended his hand in the middle of the hallway,” she said. “He grabbed my hands, and he led me out.”
Spitz credits these officers with saving her life.
“I’m feeling extremely lucky under the circumstances, loved by God,” she said, “because if God didn’t love me, he wouldn’t have woken me up. My husband was basically asleep. He didn’t know what was happening when I said, ‘”Get up, get up, get up!'”
But that was just the first step. Next came a helping hand from some dedicated law men in uniform.
The entire rescue was captured on the officers’ body cameras.
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