MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — Residents were evacuated early Tuesday morning from their high-rise apartment building in northeast Miami-Dade after a large fire erupted inside one of the units, first responders confirmed.
According to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue officials, the fire was reported just after 3:30 a.m. at 800 NE 195th St.
Firefighters arrived at the scene to find heavy flames and smoke coming from the balcony of a fourth floor unit.
The balcony right above that unit was also heavily damaged from the smoke and flames.
“The alarm went off and I thought it was a false alarm,” resident Dea Gallira said. “I didn’t think it was real. I stayed in bed. I didn’t bother getting up until I finally got up and opened the door to the hallway. There was all this smoke and I could smell the fire, so I tried to grab what I could and I just said ‘screw it,’ and I just ran and grabbed all my stuff and I just ran out.”
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the unit where the fire occurred was a total loss.
“We had to evacuate most of the floors,” MDFR Operations Division Chief Michael Eng said. “This was a second alarm fire. And the concern now that the fire is out is the degree of smoke and carbon monoxide in the building. So we have to absolutely make sure we can check that before we can allow people back in.”
People who live in the affected unit were seen sitting outside the building while they awaited word from firefighters.
MDFR officials later confirmed that there was “significant smoke throughout the building,” but no injuries were reported.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Officials said the Red Cross is assisting the residents displaced by the fire.
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