Man Seen Running From Miami Beach Apartment Fire
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Residents of a Miami Beach apartment building got an unexpected wake up call Friday morning.
Around 2 a.m., a fire broke out in one of the units in the building at 1354 Euclid Avenue.
Arriving firefighters spotted smoke billowing from the windows of a unit on the second floor. All of the building's residents were safely evacuated and the fire was put out quickly. Firefighters did a check of the unit and found no one inside.
Two of the building's units have smoke damage.
One of the building's residents said he saw man running away from the apartment which had the fire. He added there was an eviction notice on the door.
"I literally walked out of my apartment door and some guy ran out and there was like smoke coming out," said Pedro Sigala. "I immediately called 911 and just tried to get some stuff out."
Sigala said he never saw guy before and thought something was odd. "I tried to ask him what happened and he didn't know anything," Sigala recalled. "He ran out from the apartment that was burning, he did not try to call the cops. I asked him if he called 911, he said no and just ran away," Sigala said.
Another neighbor, Brian Ballard woke up after hearing a loud sound. "I heard a really really loud noise like 1:45, 2 o'clock, sounded like a gunshot or something exploding," he said.
Investigators with the state Fire Marshal's Office are trying to determine if the fire was intentionally set.
"It's under investigation, it could be a suspicious fire, we're waiting for the results of the investigation," said Miami Beach Fire Rescue Captain Charlton Price.
15 units at the apartment have been evacuated.
