BreakingNews
Miami-It all started with an unattended candle....
This is a really interesting story, the shantytown, made up of shacks housing the homeless, was created in part as a political protest for affordable housing. Many residents that were displaced by the fire, still do not want to leave the area.
The fire apparently started in a shack near the center of the village at Northwest 62nd Street and 17th Avenue when a candle tipped over, said Ignatius Carroll, a Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokesman. The man who lived in the shack had gone out for the night but had left the candle burning, other residents said.
Jonathan Baker, who was one of the first to move into the village when protesters took over the land on Oct. 23, saw a spark coming from the shack just past midnight, he said. He went over to see what was happening and found a mattress engulfed in flames. He tried to stamp it out.
But the fire quickly raged out of control. It spread from wood shanty to wood shanty, then ignited at least three propane tanks used for cooking. The tanks exploded.
Within minutes, the flames circled around the property, consuming the 20 shanties, Carroll said. Seven fire trucks responded to the village at 12:15 a.m. and had the blaze under control in 15 minutes.
At one point the flames climbed 100 feet and nearby apartment buildings had to be evacuated because of intense heat and smoke.
For more information about the origins of this "shantytown", click here.
