MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Employees at a Miami-Dade County warehouse were lucky to escape after a fire broke out inside the building.
Video taken by Miami-Dade firefighters shows the damage inside the warehouse at 2900 NW 33rd Ave.
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"There's no life hazard. It was evacuated upon arrival. We evacuated the building next door, so no injuries noted (and) we got the fire under control," Battalion Chief Paul Smith said.
Employees made their way out of the warehouse as crews worked to extinguish the flames.
"He said he was working in the back and while he saw everyone running away he panicked and he ran away and he saw the flames," Gabriel Tavarez, who translated for employee Florencio Reyes, said.
The building houses a company called En-Range. Employees said they clean brass from shell casings.
"We do get brass casings from police and military gun ranges and we process them," En-Range's CEO Thomas Taylor said. "There are some rounds in that but we do not have any ammo stored per se."
Reyes said he is just thankful to be alive.
"Thankfully nothing happened, (and) the material can be replaced. We didn't lose anything or get harmed," Reyes said through the translator.
Taylor said the warehouse is predominately used for storage. He said his company lost at least $200,000 worth of brass and said he doesn't have insurance for the building.
According to Taylor, the warehouse processes 50,000 pounds of brass a month.
"Pray for us. It's going to be a long hard road to rebuild," he said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. It's unclear whether live ammunition was inside the warehouse when the fire started.