Displaced by apartment fire, upset Miami Gardens residents seek answers
MIAMI - It's been five days since a fire ripped through an apartment building in Miami Gardens and there are still a lot of questions.
One of them is, why do residents say they've been paying for insurance? When according to the property manager, the building had none.
Some of the homeowners have retained a lawyer who says there have been some serious legal infractions, possibly even criminal.
One thing is for sure, the road to recovery appears long and uncertain.
On Wednesday evening, CBS4 learned several condo owners will be heading to the state attorney's office first thing in the morning.
Many were upset and worried that the building was not insured.
"We believe there have been serious legal infractions," said Raul Gastesi, a lawyer representing several owners at the New World Condo Apartments in Miami Gardens.
He seeks answers.
Documents CBS4 received show residents paid $120,000 for insurance last year, scheduled to pay $220,000 this year. Yet, the property manager said the building was uninsured.
Searching for a remedy, an emergency motion to appoint a receiver over the Condonmium Association was filed on Wednesday night.
"The receiver has the endorsement of the court and can make people comply with certain production of documents," added Gastesi.
Paperwork like this letter provided to residents last May revealing the building failed its 40-year recertification inspection.
"I think they've been failing the recertification for a while," said Gastesi.
CBS4 continues investigating how many years since it last passed inspection and left without insurance. While we comb through documents, families like William Mora stay at a pop-up Red Cross shelter in Miami Gardens.
"Making the best out of a bad situation," said Mora.
Mora's one of nearly 200 people displaced by the fire. He tries to make the experience easier for his young son.
"I've told him we are going camping, more fun for him," added More. "Yesterday, he got a soccer ball."
And they were even able to save some of his favorite toys.
"They get all the toys because there's a lot," said Mora's son. "I have more toys in the car."
And dad says he's back on a routine for school.
When things could be back to normal for the people living out of their cars and in shelters remains unknown.
"This could be a long-term problem for these people," added Gestesi. "They've lost everything they've had. You really feel for them."
William Mora shared that residents at the shelter were warned about scammers trying to take advantage of them tonight.
A difficult situation with many unanswered questions about how the fire started and why this building was uninsured.
Over the weekend, residents of the New World Condo Apartments on Northwest 177th Street say what started as a small fire in one unit quickly spread through the second floor and eventually engulfed a large portion of the building.
According to the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, the blaze started in one of the units on the second floor, but because of windy conditions, the fire quickly spread. Part of the building's roof collapsed.
Residents panicked, some jumping out of windows to escape.
Shenell Walker, who lost practically everything, said, "I walked outside to the end of the building and I looked up and that's when I saw the fire coming out of the building and I finally understood what they were saying, They were saying call 911 and I went back in and told my kids that there's a fire and we all ran outside and you know, everyone was trying to get everyone out of the building."
At least 75 units were impacted by the fire, about half of them destroyed and at least 105 people are displaced.
There were no deaths or injuries reported.