Miami firefighters work to extinguish blaze at abandoned building

MIAMI – City of Miami firefighters are working to extinguish a fire that erupted Thursday afternoon at an abandoned three-story building.

The building is located in the area of Southwest Sixth Street and Seventh Avenue.

Charred remnants of a Coconut Grove building are now taped off.

An abandoned three-story building was found ablaze on Main Highway, near Commodore Plaza, around 3 a.m., Monday.

Formerly known as the Arts and Minds Center, the building was empty and under construction when the blaze grew, which was a challenge for firefighters who tried to get to the back of the building where the flames ignited.

It took crews under an hour to control the flames.

“We deployed multiple hand lines through the front of the property, but this structure is under construction,” said Lt. Pete Sanchez, City of Miami Fire Rescue Public Information Officer. “There’s a lot of uneven terrain; there’s uneven floors.”

Ladders were used to get to the top of the building, which was up in smoke.

“We had a lot of flames emitting from the back, pretty high up to the top of the structure,” Sanchez said. “We had columns of smoke feet in the air, so that’s why we had to put up our aerial ladders to be able to flow water from the top of the structure.”

Since the building was vacant, firefighters said no one was hurt, but the building took a lot of damage.

The cause of the fire remains unknown.

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