Miami House Fire Spreads to Church, Both Destroyed

May 31, 2014
Fire destroyed a home and a church near downtown Miami but caused no deaths or injuries. Fire officially initial thought they found human remains, but it was just charred debris.

May 31--No lives were lost in a Friday night fire that destroyed a home and church near downtown Miami.

Authorities originally thought a man had been killed in a house next door to the church, but no fatalities have been confirmed, Lt. Ignatius Carroll, spokesman for Miami Fire-Rescue, said Saturday morning.

"We found out late last night," he said. "It turned out there was nobody in there."

Firefighters thought they saw charred remains but realized afterward that it was debris.

People driving by Christ Church of the Living God on Saturday morning slowed down, shaking their heads in disbelief.

The church building was destroyed by raging flames that took as many as 50 Miami firefighters to extinguish. The sanctuary is filled with blackened debris, and the roof of the building is gone.

The fire broke out in the rear of a single family home in the 200 block of Northwest 14th Terrace just before 8 p.m. and spread to the church next door.

An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the fire.

Copyright 2014 - The Miami Herald

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