A disabled Navy veteran who escaped a raging house fire near Miami Shores in Northwest Miami-Dade said a smoke alarm saved his life as flames tore through the home where he grew up.
“The alarm saved me,” said Agustin Ayala, who was nearly asleep in bed Monday afternoon when he was jolted awake by the sound of smoke detectors inside his home in the 3300 block of NW 101st Street.
Ayala said he followed the smoke into his kitchen, where he never cooks. He found heavy smoke behind one of his appliances.
“I pulled forward my refrigerator and it (was) pure fire and smoke,” he said.
Quick escape, but devastating loss
Ayala said he ran out a side door, shut off the power at his utility box and called for help.
As Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews rushed in and quickly brought the flames under control, Ayala hoped his most valuable possession—his home—might be saved.
Long before his Navy service, Ayala grew up in the house, which he said his father passed down to him. Now in his 60s, he had recently installed shutters to protect the property from hurricanes, never expecting fire would be the greater threat.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue sent dozens of firefighters to the scene. Although they stopped the fire within minutes, Ayala said the damage was overwhelming.
“Oh man, I feel bad,” he said. “I feel bad because I lost my home. Now I don’t got nowhere to go. Yeah, I got family but you know that’s something else.”
Fire investigators have not yet determined the cause, but Ayala believes an electrical issue sparked the blaze.
