MIAMI --
A retired firefighter's training was instrumental in saving his life and that of his wife after a fire broke out in their Miami apartment Tuesday morning.
No item was spared in the fire that raced through Joli and Larry Lowell's one-bedroom apartment in the 1400 block of Northwest 19th Street. The couple said the fire began in the bedroom.
"We were in bed when it happened," Larry Lowell said.
Joli Lowell said she dropped a cigarette onto the mattress and the flames quickly got out of hand.
"The smoke was so thick," Joli Lowell said. "We threw more and more water and it just got bigger and bigger."
Then, her husband's training as a firefighter kicked in.
"I couldn't breathe and my husband had to try to pull me out before my lungs collapsed again," Joli Lowell said.
The fire consumed almost everything in the apartment, leaving the living room gutted, the kitchen scorched and the bedroom destroyed.
"We lost everything, and I mean everything -- credit cards, IDs, everything," Larry Lowell said.
"The only thing they were able to do was to get out, to crawl out, and they completely came out with nothing on, and people had to give them something to cover up with," said Lt. Ignatius Carroll of Miami Fire Rescue.
With the couple homeless and uncertain about the future, Larry Lowell's fellow firefighters stepped forward with a helping hand. The Miami firefighters' union helped the couple with a $100 gift card to Target and some clothes. The American Red Cross has been contacted to help the couple find shelter.
Three other units in the apartment building were damaged by smoke and water, but the residents of those apartments were not displaced.
No injuries were reported.
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