SOUTH MIAMI, FLA. (WSVN) - Fire crews battled a blaze in the city of South Miami that left several people burned out of their homes.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue units were sent out to reports of a fire in a home in the area of Southwest 62nd Avenue and 64th Street, just after 5:45 a.m., Saturday.
Speaking with 7News hours later, neighbor Augusto Ramos said the flames spread quickly across several efficiency apartments within the converted single-family home.
“It got real bad real quick,” he said. “It was scary, yeah, it was scary.”
Ramos said he smelled smoke from a burning neighboring unit, saw a charred door, and made sure he and other tenants got out.
“The smell was really bad, so I figured something was on fire, so I got out of the studio, and I saw the door of the unit was black,” he said, “so we just ran and woke up everyone, and we just ran.”
Speaking through a translator tenant Isaura Reyes said an air conditioning unit exploded, igniting the blaze.
MDFR crews arrived at the scene moments after the tenants escaped from their homes.
“They were able to basically pull their lines off the truck and put a good knockdown immediately,” said MDFR Chief Fire Officer Richard Rossell.
Firefighters used an axe at one point to break through the charred remains of the home.
Video showed crews cooling off one of the smoldering units with their powerful hoses.
At least six units were damaged during the incident and are now unlivable.
But despite this end-of-the-year heartbreaker, residents said they’re grateful to have made it out alive and injury-free
“The most important thing, we’re all safe and no one got injured,” said Ramos.
“Very gracious to God because I’m alive, and I don’t have a single burn and we were able to get out in time,” said Reyes.
Volunteers with the American Red Cross said they are providing emergency aid to two of the tenants who were displaced.
The students who lived at the efficiencies said they are figuring out their next steps.
Reyes said she is making arrangements to stay elsewhere for the time being.
“The things that were lost were material things that can be replaced, and more important is your life and health,” she said.
MDFR officials continue to investigate the official cause of the fire.
Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.