HOMESTEAD, Fla. – A Home Depot was evacuated Tuesday afternoon after a small fire broke out.
When employees and customers saw the fire at about 1:20 p.m., officials said they all ran out of the store, located at 13855 Southwest 288th Street.
A Miami-Dade Fire Department spokesperson said the fire was small, but the building started to fail structurally.
A total of 32 fire units arrived at the store when the fire broke out, along with structural engineers and arson investigators as they tried to determine how the fire started.
Firefighters arrived and started fighting the blaze, but authorities said they had to retreat and fight it defensively because the fire began to become large. Since Home Depot contains combustibles, there was a fear of an explosion.
Based on preliminary findings, officials are now interested in talking to a man described as being a 45- to 50-year-old man with black or gray hair. He is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs about 250 pounds.
Police said the man was driving a gray, 4-door Toyota with license plate number BBGL13.
The Home Depot building was damaged, but the extent was unclear. Fire units stayed at the store to monitor hot spots.
No one was hurt or taken to the hospital as a result of the fire, officials said.
Anyone with any information on this incident is asked to contact CrimeStoppers at 305-471-TIPS.