NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A Northwest Miami-Dade family of nine was forced out after their home caught on fire overnight, but thankfully, a quick-thinking family member who was home at the time alerted them about the blaze, leading them to escape safely.
In just a matter of minutes, Samantha Delpeche became a hero, and she said it happened because she decided to take a break from work.
“I said, ‘Everybody wake up! I smell something; the house is [burning]!'” she said.
According to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, the fire started at around 4:20 a.m. on Sunday at a home along Northwest 131st Street.
Delpeche said heavy flames and smoke filled the home where she and eight other people, including small children, were staying.
“Everybody is sleeping. I wake up my boyfriend and say, ‘I smell something inside,'” she said.
Delpeche said she made the last-minute decision not to go to work. Instead, she decided to stay home and rest.
“It was 3-something. I was gonna go do Uber with my boyfriend, and then I said, ‘No, I’m not gonna do Uber. I’m going inside, and I take off my clothes, and I’m going to sleep,'” she said.
Some time later, Delpeche said, she woke up to the smell of smoke and immediately sprung into action, running through the home and telling everyone to get up and get out.
“I wake up everybody, I took the baby — I got two babies inside — I tell everybody, ‘Give me the baby, ’cause I’m gonna save – that’s my life,” she said as she held one of the toddlers.
Once she helped to get everyone out of the house, Delpeche said, she called 911.
Fire crews responded and attacked the flames from the roof of the home and on the ground.
“The crews quickly extinguished the fire, saved as much property as we could, and everyone inside was taken care of,” said MDFR Battalion Chief Armando Pesaturo.
Delpeche is likely the reason everyone was able to escape. No one was injured.
“Everybody is fine. Yeah, there’s nobody inside, there’s nothing inside,” she said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.