David Goodhue, Milena Malaver, Devoun Cetoute, David J. Neal<\/p>\n
Miami Herald<\/p>\n
(TNS)<\/p>\n
More than 200 firefighters are battling a large fire at a six-story warehouse near\u00a0Miami Gardens\u00a0on Thursday with hazardous materials reportedly inside. Dozens of units from several departments are on the scene, according to\u00a0Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.<\/p>\n
Firefighters arrived at the warehouse at\u00a020600 NW 47th Ave.\u00a0after\u00a011 a.m.\u00a0and encountered heavy smoke and fire, the department said.<\/p>\n
The incident was upgraded to a five-alarm fire. MDFR has 48 units on scene, and\u00a0Miramar\u00a0is also assisting. The blaze was classified at the highest of the five alarm levels, which function as a communication and battle-strategy system for the fire department.<\/p>\n
The higher the alarm the more serious the situation. A one-alarm fire usually denotes a blaze that is in a small, contained area and only needs a few firefighters. A five-alarm fire is declared in the rarest, severest emergencies like large building fires and massive wildfires that need a lot of manpower to put out.<\/p>\n
The last blaze of this magnitude was the 2023 Covanta Energy fire at a county-owned waste-to-energy plant in Doral, fire rescue officials said. The fire destroyed the plant, which has yet to be replaced.<\/p>\n
Fire might burn for days<\/p>\n
By the time the first crews arrived, the fire had \u201ctaken possession of the entire building,\u201d making it too dangerous for them to enter, said\u00a0Danny Cardeso, deputy fire chief.<\/p>\n
Firefighters simultaneously started battling the fire and rescuing some of the workers around the warehouse, which is about three miles west of\u00a0Hard Rock Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fire quickly escalated to a second, third, and eventually what we\u2019re currently at, a fifth-alarm warehouse fire,\u201d\u00a0Miami-Dade Fire Rescue\u00a0Chief\u00a0Ray Jadallah\u00a0said in an afternoon press conference<\/p>\n
He strongly emphasized the sheer size of the warehouse, which is still burning and is about two times larger than a Costco. Inside were thousands of types of items stored in an open-floor layout.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sheer amount of material that\u2019s in there varies,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s thousands of items that are actually carried inside that warehouse; from firewood to astroturf to shampoo to deodorant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fire commanders were heard on radio communications ordering all personnel fighting the blaze to wear air masks because the smoke was contaminated with chemicals.<\/p>\n
Jadallah warned the fire might not be put out before sunrise Friday, and maybe into the weekend, due to the blaze causing structural damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a possibility of this fire burning for a couple of days as a result of the roof that has collapsed on top of this warehouse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The warehouse was an older building made of different materials, including concrete and a sheet metal roof. Jadallah said the materials of the roof allowed the building to be consumed and partially collapse faster. Helicopters were brought in to fight the blaze from above as the situation grew more dangerous on the ground.<\/p>\n
Firefighters are also trying to contain the blaze as well as extinguish it before it could possibly extend to open land that is just west of the warehouse and is being watched by the\u00a0Florida Forest Service. It is still unclear what caused the fire, a question that the\u00a0Florida\u00a0Fire Marshal\u2019s Office will be investigating in the coming days.<\/p>\n
\u2018We tried to deal with it\u2019<\/p>\n
Jorge Gonzalez\u00a0just arrived at work when the fire started, and it rapidly grew out of control.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really quick. We tried to deal with it, but it was impossible,\u201d Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n
Gonzalez, 26, has worked at the warehouse for three years, and said the facility stores numerous products, many that are \u201ccorrosive and explosive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
There are several businesses that have that warehouse address. They include Global Warehouse Solutions & 3PL Fulfillment & Drayage Miami and\u00a0Diamond Windows\u00a0& Doors.<\/p>\n
Dr. Frederica S. Wilson Skyway Elementary School, right across from the warehouse, is vacant and under construction, the\u00a0Miami-Dade County Public Schools\u00a0district told the\u00a0Miami Herald. Students are at another school six minutes east. Neither school is currently affected, the district said.<\/p>\n
MDFR is urging people to stay away from the area, especially those with respiratory issues. No injuries have been reported.<\/p>\n
Workers stood along\u00a0Northwest 45th Avenue\u00a0and were being interviewed by agents with the\u00a0U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.<\/p>\n
Northwest 47th Avenue\u00a0is closed from\u00a0199th to 215th Streets, the Miami-Dade Sheriff\u2019s Office said.<\/p>\n
\u00a92026 Miami Herald. Visit\u00a0miamiherald.com<\/a>. Distributed by\u00a0Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Goodhue, Milena Malaver, Devoun Cetoute, David J. Neal Miami Herald (TNS) More than 200 firefighters are battling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-180651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}