Firefighters are investigating a suspicious fire that ripped through a closed Miami restaurant early Monday.
The fire broke out shortly before 1 a.m. at El Guireno Peruano restaurant on Southwest 27th Avenue near 11th Street.
Fire officials said the heat was so intense firefighters could not go inside and had to douse flames from a defensive mode.
It took around two hours to extinguish the flames, which caused severe damage to the building, Miami Fire Rescue spokesman Lt. Ignatius Carroll said. No one was injured.
Carroll said no utilities were connected to the building at the time, which raises a "red flag."
He said there had been some "legal issues" at the building and that people had been evicted from the building about a month ago.
"Because the building has no power and has been locked up for some time, this fire is considered suspicious in nature," Carroll said. "Any kind of building that has no kind of activity at all and then all of the sudden a fire of this magnitude starts up is definitely something suspicious and fire investigators will be looking into it."
Firefighters were waiting for daylight to have the state fire marshal's office and ATF investigators examine the place.
