BRADENTON – People running for their lives, with one man carrying his child in his arms to safety, after a raging fire burned out of control at the Mira Lagos apartment complex in Bradenton Monday morning.
“It was just a scary ordeal, you know six o’clock in the morning waking up to a fire like that,” said Tiara Baity
Southern Manatee Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Rick Blanco says units responded to the two alarm blaze just after 6 a.m. after residents called reporting a loud bang.
“They first heard an explosion, they came out and they see flames coming down from the downstairs apartment,” said Chief Blanco. “You can see over my shoulder its destroyed half of an eight unit complex.”
Baity, a resident at the complex, says she was woken up by the fire alarm going off in her apartment. She then says she heard the cries of woman screaming fire.
“When I looked back out the window that’s when I saw a fire flame, and I came outside – the building was literally engulfed in flames,” said Baity.
Baity says that’s when she rushed to wake her family up and then started knocking on the doors of her neighbors to alert them of the danger. “All the neighbors we were just trying to check and make sure all the neighbors were out of their apartments,” she said.
Chief Blanco says the cold weather helped in spreading the fire but contained the flames to just one building. “In total the fire displaced about 20 adults and children,” said Chief Blanco.
The residents on the first floor of the complex tell SNN they had to break down their screened in patio to escape as the flames were too strong to exit out the front. Baity says she was happy to see all the neighbors help each other out despite the tragic circumstances.
“All the neighbors we came together as neighbors and we basically helped each other out,” said Baity. “We grabbed blankets, we grabbed whatever we could grab to get out at that time.”
Chief Blanco says there are no reports of injuries at this time and the state fire official is currently investigating the cause of the fire.
Florida Power and Light is reporting some residents will go hours or days without power due to damages the fire caused.
