Crews battled fierce flames when a fire broke out at a popular bike shop in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood after witnesses heard a loud explosion.
City of Miami Fire Rescue and Miami Police units were dispatched to Suarez Bike Shop located on Flagler Street and Southwest Ninth Avenue, just after 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday.
“The bicycle shop right is on fire right there,” said a witness. “An explosion just happened in the back.”
Cellphone video captured firefighters working to knock down the flames and smoke coming from the roof of the business.
Firefighters were able to cut through the security gate behind the front door and extinguish the fire.
Pablo told 7News he was walking behind the bike shop and heard a loud explosion.
“Heard a big explosion boom boom, bout two to three explosions,” he said.
Pablo said the explosion happened 30 minutes after the bike shop had closed for the day. He believes the explosion might have come from the bike batteries inside of the shop.
“I think that happen because of those batteries,” he said.
Some teens passing by the bike shop said the fire at the bike shop hurts the community.
“It’s a shock. I always come here; this is my favorite bike shop,” said Jimmy Joseph.
“It’s really sad. I come here almost two weeks,” said Brandon Acosta. “My bike always has a problem, so I always get this done.”
Joseph and Acosta said the owner of the bike shop is like a family member to them.
“This guy is like my grandpa to me. He fixed all my bikes for me for free,” said Acosta.
“That’s really like a grandpa,” said Joseph.
Now the teens hope the owner is OK and can get the bike shop open soon.
The owner’s son, Josue Suarez later confirmed the fire did start due to bike batteries exploding while being cleaned by a staff member.
Suarez says his father is devastated.
“You can see on his he’s a bit worried, you know, about what we’re going to do about the money how the crisis is right,” said Suarez. “We lost the bikes because of heat, but what we lost most was the repair shop.”
They suffered another lost, the store’s mascot, a cat that lived there wouldn’t make it. However, a piece of her lives on in her three kittens, born on Wednesday morning.
Since the fire, the power has been out in the area, affecting the strip of nearby businesses.
The bike shop is temporarily closed.
A GoFundMe page has been created to help with the shop’s repair costs, if you would like to donate, click here.
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Source: wsvn
