MIAMI (WSVN) - A suspicious fire engulfed a Miami apartment building in flames overnight, but thanks to one homeless man, residents are safe and sound.
The blaze broke out in a three-story building along Northeast Fourth Court and 79th Avenue, at around 5 a.m., Wednesday.
Officials said the building had businesses on the first floor and apartments on the second floor. However, nobody lives in the unit where the fire originated.
According to residents, Thomas Umstead, a homeless man who lives nearby in a tent with his wife, saw the flames while he was fishing and rushed over to make sure everyone could get out safely. “I was just beating on the walls and screaming, ‘Get out, get out! You’re on fire!'” said Umstead.
The good Samaritan said he saw no activity as smoke billowed from the building and felt compelled to act. “I didn’t know how many people were still there, but I knew there was kids upstairs, and I knew it was late and nobody was moving. I said, ‘Somebody’s home, why don’t you come out? There’s all kinds of smoke!’ I mean, there was just unbelievable smoke.'”
As he rushed over, he heard a mother and her small child screaming. “They were stuck,” said Umstead. “She said, ‘I need your help. I can’t do nothing. I need your help,’ so I did the best I could. I held my breath, ran back upstairs, followed the wall, followed her screaming, took the kid and told her to just grab a hold of me because I knew which way to go.”
Now, Umstead is being called a hero. “We heard him pounding on our door, and it’s unlikely to have someone pounding on our door at that time,” said one woman, who only wished to go by the name Stephanie, “so we looked out that door and saw it was a friend of ours, the homeless man, and we asked him what happened, and he told us our building was on fire.”
Umstead is happy he was able to help because, he said, he just wanted his presence to matter somewhere. “All my life I wanted to be in the right place at the right time, not the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said. “All my life I wanted to be able to do that. I’m telling you the truth, and it makes me cry just thinking about it.”
Now, the State Fire Marshall is now investigating what ignited the flames. “Listening to some of the residents, they’re saying that this unit may have been occupied probably a day or two ago, but the people were no longer staying there,” said Miami Fire Rescue Captain Ignatius Carroll, “so this type of fire is considered suspicious when we have no probable cause.”
7Skyforce HD flew over the scene, as crews worked to put out the flames.
The people who live in the unit next to where the fire started said they woke up in a panic. “I smelled smoke and a guy was yelling ‘Fire!’ so that kind of woke me up,” said Markell King.
The building was evacuated while officials assessed the damage.
No injuries were reported, but two people were treated on scene for smoke inhalation.
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