HIALEAH, FLA. (WSVN) - Crews have taken control of a massive fire that broke out at an auto parts store in Hialeah.
Hialeah and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews arrived at the scene at Rastro Coco Auto Parts, located at 5171 E. 10th Court, just before 1 p.m., Tuesday.
The fire has been mostly put out after crews worked for hours to douse the flames.
7Skyforce hovered over the scene where hundreds of cars were caught in the blaze, as thick black smoke billowed from the lot.
Vivian Espino lives nearby. “Explode, explode, explode,” she said describing a startling wake up call.
She was taking an afternoon nap when, all of a sudden, the business down the street from her home in Hialeah went up in flames.
Hialeah Fire Department Asst. Chief David Rodriguez said, “This is a junkyard, a big junkyard, it takes about half a city block, that was fully engulfed.”
Fire crews had to reach out to Florida Power and Light to have power in the area turned off due to power lines being too close to the fire.
According to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, over 25 of their units responded to assist with the fire, which grew quickly. The incident was then upgraded to a second alarm fire for additional manpower to battle the flames.
“All you have in these junkyards are fireload,” said Rodriguez, “from tires, to fuel, to oils, lots of combustibles.”
It took nearly 100 firefighters several hours to put the flames out.
“Luckily we were able to contain the fire to the actual junkyard,” said Rodriguez, “protected the exposures. Luckily there were no injuries.”
Rescue crews were forced to cut down a concrete barrier to access one of the hydrants.
People in the area took cellphone video, which captured multiple loud bangs.
What remained at the lot were scorched cars and melted rubber.
“This is one of the larger scale scenes we would have,” said Rodriguez.
While she’s glad her home wasn’t damaged, Espino said she feels for the owners of the business, whom she’s known for years.
She says it’s been in that location for more than three decades and she prays they’ll be OK.
“They lost it all,” she said. “The office, all. All!”
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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