COCONUT GROVE, FLA. (WSVN) - A day after nearly 300 people were evacuated from buildings in Coconut Grove, fire rescue crews continue to burn the propane gas that caused the incident.
City of Miami Fire Rescue and Police responded to the scene along Southwest 27th Avenue near 30th Street for the second day in a row, Thursday.
A propane tank was found leaking Wednesday morning, which led to an apartment building, daycare center and several single-family homes to be evacuated for over 12 hours.
Authorities started receiving calls at around 8 a.m. after people in the area smelled gas near the apartment building.
7News cameras captured evacuated children and their caretakers from the daycare center sitting underneath a pop-up tent.
Residents were given the all clear to return to their homes overnight.
The remaining propane gas inside of the tank was burned the next morning, but residents said they are still concerned.
“Our operation that’s commencing today is to fill the tank up with water and burn off whatever remaining gasses that may be inside of the tank,” said City of Miami Fire Rescue Capt. Ignatius Carroll.
The apartment building’s property owner said they had no idea it was there.
“Gas has a tendency to cause vapors that could reach an explosive range and the unknown had us concerned,” said Carroll. “As a result, we focused on safety and we evacuated an area we felt would be sufficient enough, in the event something went wrong.”
One of the residents evacuated from her home said she’s still concerned.
“It was a nightmare, really, not knowing because of the recent explosion in Plantation,” said resident Sonia Sanguinetti. “It’s just still very worrisome.”
Rescue officials said there is no need for those in the area to worry.
“We want to make sure that residents in this area here are assured that their safety is number one, and there’s no need for concern like yesterday,” said Carroll.
“It’s still just very scary as to what’s going underground,” said Sanguinetti. “Why weren’t these tanks taken care of a long time ago?”
Officials said it is up to a property owner to remove a tank or to leave it in the ground.
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