A woman has been displaced from her Northwest Miami-Dade home after a fire sparked in the kitchen while she was cooking dinner.
Suzanne Ulysse’s home for 35 years, along Northwest 29th Court and 91st Street, was burned out, Friday afternoon.
“All of my children’s pictures, the diplomas — there’s no way that you can express the feeling of something you have for 30 years,” she said. “That’s my whole life besides my children. I know that’s material stuff. God spared my life, but there’s history in this house.”
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel cut off window bars to get inside of the home and extinguish the fast-moving blaze. Crews could also be seen cutting off parts of the roof to attack the fire from above.
Ulysse said it began when she was cooking and left the room. She came back to her kitchen filled with smoke.
“I couldn’t go back,” Ulysse said. “My phone was in the bed, and that’s when I walked outside the house to call for help. I heard the neighbors, but I didn’t see no one. That’s when I put the shirt over my head and went back in.”
Neighbors would call 911 for help as soon as they saw the fire spark.
“I see the house start smoking, a hard smoke, and I called 911,” a neighbor said. “I thought she was in the house! I ran to 92nd Street, go around and saw her talking, but finally, when I saw her talking, that means she’s safe.”
Despite losing everything, Ulysse found something to be grateful for.
“I am thankful,” she said. “It could have been worse. My children weren’t there, and everyone else that was helping to put down that fire, they come out alive. I know they are tired, but they are alive, and that is something to be grateful for.”
Fire rescue officials said no injuries were reported.
Ulysse is staying with family until she can find a new place to call home.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.