South Florida

1 Killed in Little Haiti Fire

One person was killed after a fire swept through a Little Haiti home late Wednesday, Miami Fire Rescue officials said.

The fire broke out at 54 Northwest 53rd Street, Fire Rescue spokesman Lt. Ignatius Carroll said.

Two women and one man managed to escape the fire and were outside when emergency crews arrived. The fire was quickly extinguished and the victim's body was found inside.

"We understand that there's four people that stay in the house, two adult males and two adult females, right now we have accounted for two females and one adult male," Carroll said.

The victim's identity wasn't released and the cause of the fire is under investigation, Carroll said.

"We heard numerous reports that there may have been an explosion, that's what the neighbors were reporting when they called 911, those are some of the things that we're gonna look into," he said.

Neighbors said they heard an explosion and saw a ball of fire coming from the house.

"I looked out the window and there was a big burst of fire and I didn't know what to do so I called police," Caitlin Wiggins said.

Felicia Dejean, who lives next door to the home, said the tenants were acting in desperation.

"They were screaming and panicking, there was a woman with a hose trying to extinguish the fire," Dejean said.

The house had no kitchen and no gas hook up, but may have had gas cans inside.

"The person drove a scooter and there were reports of containers of some type of liquid taken into his room," Carroll said. "We are looking at it. May have been gasoline for his scooter."

Check back with NBC 6 South Florida and NBC6.com for updates.

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