Four families were displaced from a Tamarac apartment complex after a fire swept through the building Tuesday morning.
The fire was reported shortly before 5 a.m. at 4511 Treehouse Lane. When firefighters arrived they found heavy smoke and flames coming from the building, but they were able to quickly get it under control.
A mother and her son were both injured as they were running out their door, officials said.
Judith Mytil said she woke up to find flames coming out of her closet.
"I tried to put it out and I couldn't, it only got worse," she said.
Mytil said she stepped in the fire while trying to run out with her young son.
"My foot got burned real bad," she said.
No other injuries were reported. Other neighbors said they were lucky to escape uninjured.
Gina Macenat said she was woken up by her sister's screaming and saw a thick cloud of smoke in her hallway.
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"I started running and banging on everybody's door that's connected to my building, everyone hesitated at first until I started begging saying 'it's a fire, it's a fire,'" Macenat said. "They thought it was like a fight or something, but once I said it was a fire that's when everybody started coming out."
Macenat's sister, Tcherlie, said the flames moved quickly as their family rushed out to safety.
"While we were outside, we just saw the smoke just, like, keep coming – taking up all over the unit," she said.
Gina Macenat found Mytil and her son crying outside their burning first-floor home.
Mytil and Macenat worried about their other neighbors, which led Macenat to alert others door by door.
"I started banging on doors, 'fire, fire, fire.' 'Cause I didn't know how much back there was on fire, and how quickly it was going," Macenat said.
The Tamarac building was deemed uninhabitable Tuesday afrernoon, as crews worked quickly to board up the apartment units.
The Red Cross was called in to help three households, including seven adults and three children, find shelter.
Authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire.
