MIAMI --
Miami firefighters had their hands full early Monday after a huge fire ripped through a home.
No one was injured, but two city of Miami fire trucks were damaged as crews fought the blaze.
Flames shot several feet into the air. The blaze started in an abandoned house in Overtown, on Northwest Second Avenue and 11th Street. The vacant structure was often used by homeless people seeking shelter, Local 10's Kellie Butler reported.
Forty firefighters were called to battle the blaze that began at 1 a.m. When nothing could be done to contain the flames, firefighters shifted their focus to evacuating nearby buildings.
"We woke up to someone knocking on the door yelling, 'Get out. Get out. Get out,'" said Eric Lee.
Lee was one of many residents forced to evacuate because flames and smoke were getting dangerously close to his building.
Firefighters had to carry a resident with special needs out of a neighboring apartment.
"As they started to fight this fire, the wind direction changed and the flames started to go towards the fire trucks itself," said Miami Fire-Rescue spokesman Ignatius Carroll Jr.
The intense heat melted the lights and paint off two city of Miami fire vehicles.
The cause of the fire is unknown.
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