NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A fire ignited on top of a Northwest Miami-Dade warehouse.
It’s been more than 12 hours since the fire started. Firefighters are still working on putting it out Thursday night.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue responded to the area of Northwest 72nd Avenue and 46th Street, just before 10 a.m., Thursday, to the two-alarm fire.
The flames spread quickly, burning through the first floor and the second before firefighters even arrived.
Michael Eng, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Division Chief, explained the situation.
“The fire is still ongoing, and it’s under investigation once we extinguish it, but upon arrival we had heavy fire coming out of the bay of a two-story warehouse that contained heavy paper products and some hazardous materials and propane tanks,” said Eng. “We’ve had some difficult access to it. There was heavy fire blowing through the bay doors, and we are still in the process to extinguish it.”
More than 30 units arrived at the scene to quell the fire.
The task was made even more difficult by what was stored inside the facility: paper and propane in the warehouse of the company listed as AEL Investment Group.
Lafayette Delgado, who works at the facility, arrived for work shortly after the fire started.
“I was there working on a machine and the forklift driver came in talking about there was a fire, so we tried to put it out, and it was just too much, so we couldn’t,” said Delgado. “We had to evacuate the building with all the cars, we made sure everyone was fine, you know. We called fire rescue, and now they are trying to do what they can. Honestly, I can’t even, there aren’t any words that I can describe. This is a nightmare now, everybody here is without a job probably, for a little bit. Everyone is in shock because nobody expected this to happen.”
He said there was at least 15 people working inside the facility when the fire broke out on the lower level.
People who worked near the facility were sent home for the day, as there was concerns that the raging fire might spread.
While firefighters said no one was hurt, workers are devastated by the destruction left behind.
“Nobody expected the flames to go out of control,” said Delgado.
“This is an ongoing fire, and it’s still quite dangerous,” said Eng.
Firefighters continue to work on hot spots that continue to burn at the warehouse.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.