Residents of a Hialeah apartment building have a stranger to thank after the convenience store they live above caught fire and an unknown passer-by went door-to-door to alert them.
The fire began around 3 a.m. Friday at the La Voz De Dias store at 2664 W. Palm Avenue, Hialeah Fire officials said.
Residents in the apartments above had no idea until they heard frantic knocking on the door.
"He just started screaming 'fire, fire, come out of the apartment'...knocking hard [on] every door," resident Mayra Dominguez said. "It was just a stranger coming by, saw smoke, so that's why we're safe."
Hialeah police say 15 people made it out safely from eight apartments. The stranger who knocked on the doors left without giving his name.
Firefighters arrived and put out the flames, but not before they ripped through the convenience store. Residents were later allowed back into their apartments.
Investigators are looking into the blaze and are hoping the man who knocked on the doors will come forward to help them solve it.
