Local non-profit steps up to help Miami Gardens residents who everything in massive apartment building fire
MIAMI GARDENS - Residents of the New World Condo Apartments on NW177th Street got a first-hand look at what's left behind after Saturday's massive fire.
Many said they could not go inside certain units due to the extent of the damage.
The Global Empowerment Mission, a local non-profit, that focuses on disaster recovery has stepped in to help.
"In our line of work we see a lot of disasters, but this is in our backyard and we want to make sure that the people know that they are taken care of," said GEM's Kimberly Bentley. "Since Surfside, this is another big event. We're grateful there were no casualties but these people have lost everything and we wanna give them their basics and let them know we're here for them."
Miami Dade Fire Rescue responded to calls about an apartment complex up in flames around 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
Thick smoke billowed from the building as flames quickly spread across the second floor
"I open the door to check to see what is happening and that's when I saw everything, it was black smoke everywhere, it was dark, we just had to run down the stairs," said Shadae Lopez.
Some residents jumped out of windows, while others hopped fences, sprinting to the complex to tell those inside to get out.
"I was very, very frightened because this never happened. I've lived here over 40 years," said Valerie Hunter.
Firefighters battled the blaze, but the windy conditions enhanced it, leading to a majority of the roof to collapse.
At least 75 units were damaged, about half of them destroyed. Many residents were emotional after losing everything.
"This is like starting over. We have nothing besides the clothes on our backs. Everything's gone," said Lopez.
"Firefighters don't save anything, anything at all, save nothing at all. Everything burned up," said Marcia Gordon.
Crews worked for hours to get the fire under control and more than 100 people were left displaced.
"We have the Red Cross, we have the fire department, we have the police department, we have the Homeless Trust that are providing services to all of the occupants that have been displaced," said Miami-Dade Fire Chief Raied "Ray" Jadallah.
For many residents, the only thing that remains is the charred frame of the place they once called home, but miraculously, no injuries or deaths were reported.
Officials are still investigating what caused the fire and are looking into if recent roof renovations had anything to do with the spread.
CBS4's Anna McAllister contributed to this report
