Passerby Wakes Sleeping Family In Time To Escape House Fire
Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter
NORTH MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- A good Samaritan was able to save three people from a house fire in North Miami, waking them up just in time.
Emmanuel Saint Phar was driving home after a night out shooting pool when he happened to notice smoke emanating from the home at 965 N.E. 135th Street, late Friday. Quick-thinking led him to correctly assume that whoever was inside might be sleeping and unaware.
So he pulled over and rushed to bang on the front door.
"I could see it was all smoky and everything, so I just knocked on the door, banged on the door, and luckily, the lady woke up and came out with two kids," he said.
Monique Venanc and her two granddaughters were unhurt.
"We were sleeping and I saw the noise at my door! The man hit the door so fast! Then I wake up and he said, 'Fire! Fire! Get out," she said. "And I don't have time to open the door, the guy break down the door and he pulled us out."
The fire began somewhere in the back of the house. By the time firefighters arrived, the flames had intensified.
"We had a lot of flames on the outside-left corner, or the northwest corner," said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Capt. Robert Alicea. "There was smoke damage, extensively (inside the house.) We had to pull some ceiling to make sure there was no extension going toward inside the attic so it wouldn't involve the rest of the house."
Capt. Alicea noted the home was not equipped with smoke alarms.
"That coulda been my family member," Saint Phar said with a relieved smile. "I'm happy everybody came out and nothing happened to them."
Officials haven't said what caused the fire.
