MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) - Officials are investigating a fire that destroyed a house in Miami Gardens and left four people displaced as a possible arson attack.
Just after 12:30 a.m. on Friday, surveillance video from a home across the street from the house that caught fire captured a person on a bike lingering in front of the house and lights flashing on the house. The bicyclist rode away as sparks on the video footage got brighter.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue responded with 11 units to the scene of the blaze along the 2400 block of Northwest 170th Street. Crews arrived to find flames shooting from the home.
“I saw it on the news. Someone called me and was like, ‘Hey, your house is burnt down,'” said Queen McCoy, the owner of the property.
Crews were able to quickly extinguish the blaze.
McCoy said this fire was no accident.
“I know that this was done on purpose,” she said. “I have an idea exactly of where the people are who did this.”
McCoy said she was renting the house out to a family of four who were able to escape unharmed.
The owner said the property had been in her family for years.
“It was my grandmother’s house, and she left it to me. This house meant a lot to me,” she said.
She also added that the loss of her house is sentimental because she grew up in the home that has been reduced to a charred mess.
Daylight revealed the extent of the damage. The county has labeled the building unsafe.
“It’s frustrating. I really wanted to cry, but I’m, like, I can’t control this,” said McCoy, “so I’m trying not to stress about things that I can’t control. I’m just going to try to move forward and see what will be my next step with getting this taken care of.”
Volunteers with the Red Cross are helping the displaced tenants make accommodations.
Detectives are still investigating what led up to this fire.
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